G-Major 11

[ruff_hi]

i do build some military. altho i've often mined bronze/iron to get the hammers, but not roaded it for quite a long time, to keep the ability to build cheap warriors

Hey, I do that too but every now and then get caught by a mine that is next to a river ... have to go back and pillage my own mine.

 

[WastinTime]

Settling an artist early seems like a good idea, but I can rarely make the math work out to justify it. On quick speed, certainly, it never works out. I think you need around 200 turns to go on Epic for it to make sense. Another thing that makes it difficult to settle that first artist is that an early culture bomb can move your borders out fast. This can either flip an opponent's city to your side or steal a bunch of resources. So I didn't settle any artist in my 1st game.

This early in a gauntlet I don't like to post my finish dates. Some people get discouraged for example, when they hear of the 1553 that's in already (great game!). I find Epic to be very different from quick speed. I had 18 great artists and I didn't even build the Parthenon (no marble), but GA's don't have as much power on Epic speed games. That'd be an easy 1400's finish on quick, but I did not get 1400's. I'm going to focus on more cottages, religions, and cathedrals...and I won't play without marble again.

 

[Methos]

You need to do the maths and make some sort of allowance for turns remaining.

That's the problem I'm having. What year to stop merging and save them up? I got one at 95 AD and I wasn't for sure. I thought that was enough time, but I didn't want to take the chance. I don't typically play my culture games on epic.

i was surprised when i started playing cultural that sometimes a different city than the one i'd planned for my third worked out better at the end.

I've had this happen several times with my GP Farm. It typically bypasses my lowest three and becomes one of my culture cities. Anymore I just plan my GP Farm to be one of my three.

I'm going to focus on more cottages, religions, and cathedrals...and I won't play without marble again.

This is/was my mistake. My current game I'm playing as Liz (Warlords) and I don't feel I cottaged enough. I should be a lot further on than I am, so I doubt I'll have a very good date.

 

[Harbourboy]

Well, its 1850 AD and my three cities are on about 25,000 culture and currently making about 250 per turn. Main problem is that three civs have just started building SS casings so I am running out of time. I have one Great Artist standing by and another one due in about 10 turns. I wonder if I will be able to make it.

 

[Methos]

Well, its 1850 AD and my three cities are on about 25,000 culture and currently making about 250 per turn.

Have you stopped research yet? If so, what % on the slider are you running?

 

[Harbourboy]

I am running at 10% science, 20% gold, and 70% culture.

I am pessimistic about this one because I figure I have about 100 turns left (more because this is a nice round number than because I have calculated the time left in the space race). This means I need at least 400 culture per turn, plus at least three great artists.

Going to 0% science isn't going to give me another 150 culture per turn and it will still take a while before the religious building programme is completed (my culture cities have almost no production as they are all cottaged up). I only got my 9th city a few turns ago (a handy culture flip from Cyrus) so it will be a while before 3 temples are up in there.

 

[AnitaGaribaldi]

I'm happy it's a cultural G-Major. I hope I can upload a game. Monarch is already quite hard for me. So far, only two victories: one on a tiny map with Catherine and another on a small map with Caesar. Both were domination wins. Large maps are hard for my machine, I'm seriously thinking about buying a new video card, it's the only item below "recommendation". Yesterday for the first time I got a good time in a cultural victory without relying too much on wonders. It was a 1585 AD win (small/normal/chieftain). On my first try I will build the Pyramids and rush buy things.

If I get one of the first places, I'll be so happy. I doubt that, but I know I’ll try because that’s me.

 

[Thrallia]

my current attempt, I'm up to 675AD, have 8 cities, and just had Taoism and Judaism spread to me(finally!). I founded Hinduism and was 1 turn away from founding Buddhism too in this game

I'm playing as Hatty against Vicky, Washington, Roosevelt, Mansa, Frederick, Bismark, Brennus, and Gandhi...Everyone is pretty much equal in tech, but I've got the inside edge toward Liberalism as I'm the only civ with both Pacifism and Paper.

I haven't gotten any wonders yet, but I ran 3 priests for awhile to get the Hindu Shrine so I could fund my 100% research rate(thanks to selling unneeded resources for gpt and the shrine, I'm running my economy off of Great Library cash still...)

I'm about to mass produce workers to clear jungles, forests, and spam cottages in my cities...and expect to win around 1700AD. After I've got my baseline, I'll try to improve on it in later games. I also expect to flip 3 of Vicky's cities and at least 1 of Brennus' cities when I start running my culture slider instead of my science.

 

[WastinTime]

My 2nd attempt has great promise. Capitol has corn, gold, gold, six flood plains and wine.

2nd city has pig, wheat, marble, so I expect to get Oracle, Parthenon.

My plan is to go for Sistine chapel for a change. So since I'm going there, I was first to Hindu and Judaism. I'm assuming I'll first to Confuc, Christianity and Tao too. I don't mind getting the stone religions (with no stone) because I plan to rush buy some buildings...which is also not my normal plan.
Since no stone, that means no Pyramids, so the plan is to tech to Democracy, maybe even take it free from Liberalism.

I'm most excited about this game because I got Priesthood, Writing, and Math for free! I always trade for math, so no big deal there.

 

[Ozbenno]

My first attempt just got destroyed by Cyrus' knights in the 1200s.

Was going reasonably well as Frederick (vanilla). Founded Hinduism but misseed Confusedism by 2 turns to Cyrus, who them must have lightbulbed Taoism as he had it insanely early. No other religion spread to me until just before the knight-attack. Got Liberalism in 1202 and took PP, switched off research. Had 9 GAs sitting in Berlin (one settled very early on), which was able to run 8 artists at a time with Parthenon, Pacifism, National Epic and pop a GA every 10-15 turns.

My warriors tried bravely but to no avail. Had been thinking of switching to Free Religion as Hatty was getting annoyed. Cyrus was pleased but must have slipped to cautious and bang.

Think I was on track for a 1600s finish (maybe 1700s) so back to the drawing board for another attempt in a few days.

I had marble in this game and realised it is very helpful for Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, National Epic, Hermitage and Hindu Mandhir all needing it.

 

[Harbourboy]

Hmm, everyone is doing better than me. I think I need to have another go and make a better effort to:
- expand into better quality territory earlier
- plan border cities for better culture flipping opportunities
- plan techs for maximum trading opportunities and more concerted beeline for Liberalism
- plan wonders based on resource availability but consider Pyramids, Stonehenge, Parthenon, and Sistine Chapel.

 

[WastinTime]

Can't decide if I should take all the risks to get the best game I can, or play it safe and not ruin a good start. I never go for monotheism so early, so I have the option of Organized Religion early. Should I:

a) risk war by taking on a religion this early and have 25% production boost?
b) chicken out
c) other?

If I wait for Alphabet, I can trade tech and make people happy with me.

 

[Methos]

Hmm, everyone is doing better than me. I think I need to have another go and make a better effort to:
- expand into better quality territory earlier
- plan border cities for better culture flipping opportunities
- plan techs for maximum trading opportunities and more concerted beeline for Liberalism
- plan wonders based on resource availability but consider Pyramids, Stonehenge, Parthenon, and Sistine Chapel.

This is the perfect place to ask for help and suggestions, so ask away. I'm curious, what tech path do you follow? How soon do you build your first three and the rest to get yourself up to nine?

Here's my answers:
Techs: I tend to head straight for Pottery, Writing, and Alphabet. Once I have Alpha I trade for the metals and anything else I missed. I than aim for Col, CS, and than Liberalism.
Main Three: I build my main cities quickly but slow down on the others. Once I get my main three up and strong I build the others as my empire can sustain them. I use the other six only for my temples and military production.

Sorry, this isn't very clear. I wrote it rather quickly.

 

[KMadCandy]

Can't decide if I should take all the risks to get the best game I can, or play it safe and not ruin a good start.

now that is something i never thought i'd see. a post that makes me glad i haven't yet won a major! since i haven't, i don't have to wonder whether to play it safe or go for the best game i can. i just really really want to get credit for winning one, so i'm trying to play as safely as i possibly can .

i tried G-Major 9, the deity diplo one, as OCC and didn't win. i've played that scenario several times after the gauntlet closed, because it's addictive, fun and quick, and i never get rated as dan quayle so i guess i'm good at losing that way . well this game makes me miss deity in one way ... the AI leaders were quite devoted to spreading their religions on that level. i can't depend on them the same way on monarch it seems.

i don't think i've ever ended up with less than 4 AI-founded religions in my OCC deity games, sometimes 5. in one game, asoka had 3 missionaries out at all times, and his workers built part of his railroad network over my land to speed them up. that was fine with me, i loved having the extra hammers at a time i didn't even know steam power.

 

[AnitaGaribaldi]

My first attempt is going well. I don't know if I'm going to win, but I think I'll survive to the end of the game. I'm playing with the Inland Sea map, I share religion with the two AI near me. I could use religion without risking war since the beginning. I have just two religions. I hope that is enough.

I was afraid of getting boxed out. I built a lot of cities early in the game to claim territory. That costed me a lot of gold. I fell really behind tech early in the game, but I got the Pyramids, run Representation and SE economy. My science slider went down to 30% just to finance my expansion. With lightbulb and tech trade, I am now at the same tech level as the AI.

I could not found any religion. My only real attempt was with Islam. I got an Enginner from the Pyramids and built the Angkor Wat, then I run three Priests and waited for the Great Prophet. I thought one Great Prophet would give me the tech, well, I was wrong. The time it took to research the rest of it, another civ found Islam. I just hope the Angkor Wat won't give me another Great Prophet. If I had founded Islam, I would just build a Shrine. Now, I will be just .

At least I won the Liberalism race by 1166 AD. I got Nacionalism as free tech and traded for Printing Press. I'm now researching Banking. If I see any chance of getting to Economics first, I'll try to get the Great Merchant. Extra money does not hurt.

 

[Harbourboy]

I have two approaches to tech in this game:
1) The religious route where I try to found Polytheism and then build an early Stonehenge and Oracle.
2) The non-religious route where I focus on Bronze Working and land improvement techs to get capital up and running

The religious route sounds like a good idea in a culture game but somehow it never seems to generate very good results. I think this is because I get stuck in a rut when building those early wonders (and then get overrun by barbarians when I only have 3 warriors guarding two cities in 1250 BC).

 

[Thrallia]

Harbourboy, try turing off barbs I've been doing that and been doing much better thanks to not needing to worry about the barbs at all...in a culture game, the barbs seem to bother me more than they did the AI.

 

[Airny]

Can't decide if I should take all the risks to get the best game I can, or play it safe and not ruin a good start. I never go for monotheism so early, so I have the option of Organized Religion early. Should I:

a) risk war by taking on a religion this early and have 25% production boost?
b) chicken out
c) other?

If I wait for Alphabet, I can trade tech and make people happy with me.

You won't get a war instantly. If you can get a big profit (usually not the case), do it. If they ask you to convert, do it. This is "only" monarch, don't worry too much. It took >30 turns for me till the AI declared war last time. ;-)

 

[Methos]

A few suggestions if you don't mind. Please note, I'm no expert on culture victories, so take this as you wish.

(and then get overrun by barbarians when I only have 3 warriors guarding two cities in 1250 BC)

First off, why do you have barbs turned on? Since I'm trying to get my three cities up fast I don't want the worry of barbs, so they're turned off. Remember, according to the HoF Rules, barbs are optional.

The religious route where I try to found Polytheism and then build an early Stonehenge and Oracle.

I don't bother even trying for the early religions. IMO it's a waste of turns when I could be getting Pottery, Writing, and Alphabet. Once I have Writing I sign OB with anyone who has a religion in the hopes that it'll pass my way. Granted, some times I have to wait a long time for it to happen, but its still not worth researching it IMO. Also, I stay clear of most wonders as I don't want to pollute my pool with non-artist points. The only wonder I build that doesn't provide artist points is the Pyramids for the government civics. Other than that, other wonders aren't worth it IMO.

The non-religious route where I focus on Bronze Working and land improvement techs to get capital up and running

Remember your main focus on this game is culture, not military. IMO there is no reason to bother with the metal techs, except for forest chopping. I've found that the AI tend to trade BW, so I see no reason to research it myself when I can get it in trade later. IW is the same way. I may have to wait longer to get it, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. Honestly, I'm always way behind in military strength compared to the AI (I'm typically in last place), but it doesn't cause a problem. Between choosing the peaceful opponents and my trade bonuses I'm usually well liked.

The religious route sounds like a good idea in a culture game but somehow it never seems to generate very good results.

I've learned this myself, hence my reason now that I don't even bother.

Hopefully the expert culture players come along and either give better advice, or point out my errors. Granted, this early in the competition, they might be hesitant.

 

[Warpoo]

I just won at 1849. This was my 4th attempt. It took me a while to figure how to go through at game without killing a civ.

One of my Cultural city was only a 6. heh.

View attachment 152268

After reading godotnot's article, I was able pull it off. The main points are to rush to the Pyramids and BUY the religious buildings.