G-minor LI

I finished on turn 238. (Of course maybe I shouldn't say it out loud, now it's gonna be 4th place, lol...)

 

It does set a very clear benchmark

 

Wow nice!

Good thing I really like this scenario so I dont mind replaying this several times to beat you

I just finished my 2nd try, had a very nice starting location, but somehow failed to get to keep cultural CS allies through the early game when it matters most, they just didnt give the quests I was able to fullfill :/
Still improved my 1st attempt decently from T-264 to T-252, but seeing yours T-238, there is still a lot of improving to do.

Anyway, here is a screenshot because the 50 pop city looks so nice

 

Funny thing about my game: 1 cultural city state, no mountain, no marble. Sometimes this game makes no sense.

 

Why is Petra so great? Wouldn't a heavy jungle start with the appropriate religion benefit be better (or just as good) and comes sooner?

 

^ Desert hill tiles .

 

no mountain and no marble is ok, but how did u get such a good time with just 1 cultural CS I dont understand. Did you go warring like crazy or what?

And also it means that with say 4-5 cultural CSs and your strategy, a way better time than I thought is possible, like maybe even under T-225 or something. F.uck, this is gonna be hard to win

 

Petra itself will give +7 culture. The tile bonuses mean you get a ridiculous powerhouse city that still grows a lot. It can also get an ampitheater online before you would be able to otherwise, starting the great artist points sooner.

Also the +1 to jungle tiles would be nice, a city that gets a lot of that will likely have very poor production, and not grow all that fast.

 

Yeah, I see what you mean. My last attempt I had tears in my eyes when I decided to cut that jungle hill to make a mine.

Do you beeline currency, or take it as free tech from Great Library, or something else? Petra tends to go early to an AI in a lot of my games.

 

my standard is GL for philosophy, NC, then you should still have a few turns before you have the tech for petra.

 

No wars apart from a defensive one. I did bully city states on contact, got El Dorado, and eventually was allied with every CS and running 7 research agreements. Also I ran world church.

 

Hi everyone !
I was wondering how you got these Petra starts with Montezuma. No matter how many times I reroll this, start bias does not let me get the sight of a desert. So, is it allowed to disable it in HoF ? I searched a bit on the forum and I didn't find anything about that (though I just spent 2 minutes doing so, sorry for my laziness).

 

Yes, it's legal to disable start bias.

 

Just improved on my 276 with a 262, this time opening Honor first and then going Tradition - Piety - Took 3 in Patronage - Freedom, Finished Patronage and Honor.

Don't forget to send out explorers to grab all the ruins - I got loads of +1 population huts so that really helps with growth. Probably explains that size 50 city that HideInLight posted.

Again, I have no DLC so no ToA for the growth boost. I did get an insane religious start though, and was able to found it at turn 58, before anyone else even had a pantheon. I rush-bought a shrine, got Desert Folklore, then found a +60 faith hut for a huge boost. I took world church and soon the entire continent was following my religion and providing me over +50 culture at its peak.

Still not entirely sure whether the free golden age from Liberty is worth taking compared to the constant culture boost given by honor. Personally I found that opening honor first gives you such a huge boost early on that it's worth burning an extra artist later in the game (particularly in this game, where I had a massive faith advantage so could afford the 2500 artist for the final golden age). Artists that arrive later in the game are better spent on golden ages, because the landmarks become less effective the later they are founded, and by the time it's useful to open the golden age in Liberty, the game's usually in the later stages and so your artists will be wasted.

 

I do expect it to be under 220 - my first full try was already under 230.

 

From the Rules/FAQ:

Illegal

The following must not be checked.

• Max Turns
• Policy Saving
• No Barbarians
• No Esponiage
• New Random Seed
• Random Personalities

So it is okay to disable start bias.

 

Thank you for the quick answer. I actually tried one without disabling start bias and with Arabic as a foe, and I wandered with my Settler at the beginning. I finally found this amazing start, next to Mt Sinai, on a Hill, and with some Marble. I managed a 284 turns victory (after a bad 353 turns one) which I am quite proud considering my current level in this game.
I'll try again without Start bias to see if I can beat 275 turns.

 

Given this(and kirb's 230's) I must be doing something wrong, dang culture games in G&K just aren't something I can compete it....

 

A gold and a silver medal in G&K culture would seem to indicate differently. What finish time range are you in?

I first played 2 or 3 games to 30-50 turns to figure out how to play this gauntlet. I found it to be pretty much the same basic strategy as for any G&K culture game, except that you need a little more military and get a little extra culture (and potential for earlier city state friends) from barbarians. Going honor route really did not seem worth it.

In my current game I tried to gain a little extra culture throughout the game by declaring war on a city state, but that didn't pay off either. To the contrary, it actually slowed down my research because people deemed me a warmonger, leading to less friendships and less research agreements.

My guess is that its best to play this as any culture game and just tale the culture gained from killing enemies as little bonus. But then again, I might be wrong....

 

I was more referring to gauntlet placements, which for culture for me have been quite middling. My best time would currently have been 270 or so. I've also come to realize that honor may not be worth it.