Feasibility of Playing Huayna Capac on Earth18Civ map in vanilla?

[DMOC]

Hey all,

I'm currently in the process of playing out a vanilla Civ game (I will get Bts someday) as the French on the Earth 18 Civ map and hope to post it in the stories forum soon. This made me wonder about another civ on the map who starts in the worst location ever: Huayna Capac.

Has anyone managed to obtain a victory while playing as Huayna Capac? If so, I was wondering what kind of strategies would be used. Huayna is blocked by the Andes so you have to expand into South America, which is littered with jungle and barbarians. I tried once (noble difficulty) and obviously failed.

 

[AlessioCerci]

Try the old "quechua on a galley" rush to take out the Aztecs, (depending on difficulty level you could then try and take out America with more quechuas) then REX South America (and North if you took out America), cottage everywhere and cruise to a space race victory.

Wait doesnt the Aztec capital have stone, in that case you could try and build the GW to get rid of any barb problems

 

[DMOC]

Well I was thinking about Noble difficulty so a quecha rush may work, but what about the second city, or is settling the capital and exclusively building quechas and a few galleys best?

Yes, the aztec capitals have stone.

 

[Gooblah]

But in Vanilla, the GW doesn't exist. Heh.

I was thinking putting the Settlers on Galleys, settling outside the Andes, and expanding from there. REX South America, block Panama, contact the Aztecs, and start attacking. Once Monty is down, you should have contact with Europe in general, which would be good.

 

[DMOC]

Yes, but the problem with REXing South America is:

1. Lack of real good food resources
2. JUNGLE!
3. Barbarians

The third factor (barbarians) can be taken care of with a simple check of the "No Barbarians" tab, but what about the jungle, which is virtually everywhere? True, there are some fish, clams, and good mine resources, but there is just way too much jungle, and Huayna Capac in vanilla is not Expansive.

I might post a screenshot and ask where the best location for the capital might be.

 

[Quotey]

On Imortal/Deity, Huayana starts out unhealthy immediately, right? Now try it on that, it's be awesome.

Where do the Maya start on the BtS earth maps (also link to the best one)?

 

[DMOC]

On Imortal/Deity, Huayana starts out unhealthy immediately, right? Now try it on that, it's be awesome.

Lol tha twould be impossible...I'm thinking about trying it out on noble difficulty, for obvious reasons...

 

[Andvare]

On Imortal/Deity, Huayana starts out unhealthy immediately, right? Now try it on that, it's be awesome.

Where do the Maya start on the BtS earth maps (also link to the best one)?

It might be me, but I can't see any Maya on any earth maps in BTS. Mayhaps on Rhye's and fall? Never did play any of the mod required scenarios.

 

[MrFelony]

i've looked at huayna's start in the bts map with WB and it sucks royally. some of his resources are even beyond the mountains. I'd say it'd doable at deity, just would take a pretty good player to do it. you do have masses of territory you can settle in S. America, or you can quechua rush montey (it would actually be better if he build archers instead of spamming warriors i think...) but i think it'd be too hard to send enough quechua via galley over to him. and DMOC hits the nail on the head.

 

[Welnic]

I played him in warlords when I first got that. I expanded into the jungle, but it is quite a slog. If I remember correctly I settled 1 tile SW of where the settler starts. There is room for one more city to the north, but it isn't very good either. I think you might get copper when the capital does its second border pop.

I think that attacking Monty is the way to go. His capital is in a nice spot.

 

[Nuageux]

all you need to do is wait until IW
you send a setter, axeman and worker over to the other side of the andes on a galley and you are fine. also once all the forest is gone, its prime land

 

[oldsaxon]

I've only tried it the once, and it was a while back so the difficulty was quite easy (Warlord most likely). It was a very slow start, but basically I colonised mainland South America, built a base of three or four decent cities, conquered the Aztecs and Americans, and then REXed.

It's not an easy thing to do (even less so on the higher difficulties), but if you can take control of both North and South America before Astronomy, then you've got a good chance of reeling in the rest of the world.

 

[nealhunt]

It's been a while since I ran it. It's feasible, but difficult because of the limited start and the fact that by the time you can settle on the other side of the Andes, barbs will swarm you. From memory, it should probably go something like this:

Take over everything west of the Andes ASAP. Pick up Sailing and Bronze. Drop a settler and an Axeman at the junction of central and south america. That gives you a passage through to the Atlantic (so you can ship more settlers/troops for settlement) and blocks Monty out of the continent.

Bring another Axeman and a worker to the city (probably a second trip with the same galley). That will give you some significant protection from Monty's Jaguars and the barb Axes.

Get Iron Working. You'll need to chop lots of jungle.

Your first few cities west of the Andes will be developed enough that you shouldn't have much better to do at that point but pump out units, workers, and settlers. Import fogbusters and spread through South America. The jungles and hills should allow them to beat back some barbs and also gan xp.

Cottage spam all the grassland under the jungle.

 

[GeorgeF]

I am just finishing up a win with Huayna on Earth18Civ in BTS. Surprisingly easy win. I just settled 2 cities and built up some tech. Then I put 1 city on the river in Ecuador (built a canal with a fort) and 1 city in all the food on the SE coast (Rio?). Used those two cities to REX south america. Quechuas are great fogbusters, especially with Woodsman III in the jungle.

The jungle once cleared is excellent cottage territory, but I was actually doing ok even before the cottages got online.

Monty took out the Americans, and then declared on me. But I had lots of boats due to the Trireme quest (missed it though), so I was able to keep him from landing any troops.

Emancipation was key for growing cottages fast, along with lots of workers (SE city with lots of food pumped out workers for a while). The plains/hills country just north was space for 3-4 production cities.

Once I got rifling, I invaded Monty, but it took until Tanks before I had them cleared out. At this point my tech rate was through the roof, and I had the game won with an easy space race victory had I wanted to settle for it.

But why waste all those hammers? And I needed to enforce the Monroe doctrine. France had settled Nova Scotia, and Saladin the Falklands. China was running away, and I was a little concerned about him and a Domination victory. He had vassalized France, Greece, Egypt, Mali, and Japan, Russia had vassalized Germany and Rome (with only a couple of cities in Africa left), and Cyrus had taken out India completely and was strong. Russia and Cyrus were warring pretty constantly against China.

Once Modern Armor hit I invaded the old world. Took Madrid, Orleans, Berlin, Paris, London (had culture flipped to France) in the first 2 turns, along with a foothold against Mali. Pretty much warred continually. England peacefully vassalized to me quickly. After I took out Egypt and Mali and France, I got peace with China. Saladin saw the writing on the wall and peacefully vassalized. Russia was the next target, I took out Rome and some Russian cities but then Russia vassalized to China, and I couldn't attack for 10 turns. Sometime in there I had taken out Greece, and so the only person to attack during the peace with China was my friend Cyrus. So I took most of Cyrus' cities before vassalizing the rest, about the time the peace treaty with China wore off and I could attack Russia again.

This is where I sit, I delayed space race a bit and built space parts in minor cities (about 15 turns/part, all simultaneously) once Labs and Elevator were built. My major production cities churned out military. Basically I'm racing to see if I can get Domination before my space race lands in 3 turns. I'm at like 45% land right now, pop is over 50%, don't know if I'm going to make it, I think I have to vassalize Russia to do it.

Long story - summary is South America is all you really need to win the game. I didn't even need to kill Monty, I had plenty even before that. My tech rate in 1978 3 turns from wining is like 5600, I'm getting Future Techs every 2 turns, I've already got 7 of them.

Had I ignored space race I probably could have gotten domination right now, time wasted building the space race buildings (Labs/Wonders) and parts would have been better spent on another 50 or so Modern Armors. But at the time I didn't know how fast the Armors would tear through the old world.

I can post saves if there is interest.

 

[DMOC]

Wow, that is very impressive GeorgeF. Unfortunately, I don't have BTS yet so I can't look at the save. Maybe a screenshot?

I'll definitely start by colonizing South America, and then attacking Monty with axemen. But Monty's capital is on a hill so that may be difficult.

 

[CocoLoco]

GeorgeF, What kind of system did you need to play your game to the end and how long was the wait between turns? You must have had hundreds of units. I love the Earth maps but can't get past 1800-1900 before it becomes 30 sec per turn. Sorry all for the off-topic post.

 

[GeorgeF]

GeorgeF, What kind of system did you need to play your game to the end and how long was the wait between turns? You must have had hundreds of units. I love the Earth maps but can't get past 1800-1900 before it becomes 30 sec per turn. Sorry all for the off-topic post.

I'll post save and screenshots tonight, when I have more time.

I didn't have hundreds of units. Maybe 20 planes and 50-75 modern armor, plus garrisons. It does take a little bit of time for turn processing but not too bad, less than a minute I guess. I play on my laptop, so its not a real tricked-out system.

 

[DMOC]

Just out of curiosity George F, I know you said you cottaged after the jungle was cleared, but did you build any watermills, workshops, or windmills?

I'm assuming you didn't need farms since the grasslands are already 2 food once you clear the jungle, which is enough to support a population point.

 

[illram]

The spot in South America where all the rivers come together, in the central part of the continent, is probably the best spot in the whole map for an Ironworks city. You can put a watermill on EVERY TILE!

 

[r_rolo1]

The south America of Earth 18 civs is a late-game powerhouse, not only because of grassland, but mainly because of most of that grassland is riverside one.... add US and a levee and you have 2 raw per tile along with the town money.... Adding to the fact that most of south america is below 30º ( Space Elevator ), who controls South america is in a prime position for a launch.....