G-Minor XLV

[Moriarte]

Any good guides on culture victories?

This thread

 

[sanabas]

298 - Spain, 5 Cities.

My first ever culture victory. Can shave a few turns off Any good guides on culture victories?

I wrote one, but it was for civ3.

 

[FeiLing]

any of the most powerful civs should have potential: spain, siam, france, songhai, korea, babylon, arabia, possibly polynesia.

Spain - yeah. And I feel that Inland Sea makes the chances to find and be next to GBR or RoG much higher than on other maps.
(...see edit at the bottom though...)

Siam, France - definitely.

Songhai - absolutely! (gotta test how much a camp actually gives on Epic, but afair it does scale pretty good)

Korea, Babylon - not too sure. Definitely not the potential the above one's have.

Arabia - On settler difficulty I don't see them shining.

Polynesia - Neither of their actually nice culture game abilities is much of an advantage on Inland Sea maps, imho.


Some more civs I see doing good (probably even better than Korean or Babylon (or at least at the same lvl):
-Persia
-Egypt
-Netherlands
-Sweden

----------------------

I think I wanna try several. A really nice Gauntlet (3 pages of answers already, that's probably the most responses ever^^). And it might create a lot of medal categories for the HoF (unless everyone goes with Spain, but I'm certain all of the above can do the best times (with much less re-rolling than Spain would require)).


edit) Just doing a game with Spain atm... 250/50 gold for discovering? Why is it less than on Quick/Standard Speed? That doesn't make any sense, since all units/buildings are already much more expensive lol.
Anyway - with this 'discovery' Spain is out for me; no longer a favorite (not at all!).

 

[Tabarnak]

I still think that Sweeden or Ethiopia are the best civs for this gauntlet. Don't forget that Sweeden can neat +10% GPP rate for each DoF and that is cumulative. DoF 5 or 6 civs and you have over +50% rate. Isn't that good enough?

+1 for Ethiopia for fast cathedrals.

 

[vexing]

Arabia - On settler difficulty I don't see them shining.

that settles it, i guess i'll win with arabia

Anyway - with this 'discovery' Spain is out for me; no longer a favorite (not at all!).

the gold isn't the advantage as much as the double wonder power. 4 food and 20 faith from a single tile? yes, please

 

[Moriarte]

I still think that Sweeden or Ethiopia are the best civs for this gauntlet. Don't forget that Sweeden can neat +10% GPP rate for each DoF and that is cumulative. DoF 5 or 6 civs and you have over +50% rate. Isn't that good enough?

+1 for Ethiopia for fast cathedrals.

Thing is, you don't need fast cathedrals on epic, amphies are good enough to make your cities barely stagnate. A bit later you'll be needing Uni's specialists and opera houses. I think good time for cathedrals is in between operas and museums. (2nd founder belief)

Sweden sounds shiny though .

 

[Tabarnak]

I'm trying a game with Sweeden and im up to turn 200. I project to finish around 260(Edit : 270...forgot to add 10ish turns for Utopia). Playing this game very very fast to have a good feeling of the whole thing. I will probably try once more.

At Epic speed i dont have much time to produce GAr. I got a 50% boost rate from 5 DoF but the train is really going only after Museums. Still, over 40 gpp is very nice but it's already late in the game. When Radio will be discovered i will already be only at few policies left to go...

Lucky ruins roulette disgust me a bit there is games where you barely hit 2 or 3 ruins for first 30 turns and got nothing important like workers and settlers. My best so far is 1 worker and 1 settler for free. My current game is 1 worker free only.

We need a strong tech rate. Can we play with Babylon? (Edit: Alright yes we can)
Does a Petra capital city is mandatory?

 

[JK_47]

I have a few cultural win questions... I think I'm asking the right questions, but if you think of any I'm missing feel free to add them with their answers.

What tech do you shoot for with GL? with Oxford? My tech-nique is all out of whack. (sorry for the pun)

What is an "ideal" city count?

When do you want GAs for cultural land improvements, and when do you want them for Golden Age?

Great Prophets? I used the first 2 to Start/Enhance a religion, then just place them for tile bonuses which will be enhanced when Piety is closed. Use faith to buy Mosques/Cathedrals/Great Prophets/Great Arists and occasioally missionaries if necessary to spread to a city.

What is the recommended culture tree? I have been doing Tradition Open - Liberty Open - Worker - Wonder bonus - Liberty Production - Settler - Work through liberty until Piety is open then Piety Open - Piety until Reduce future culture costs - Open Patronage - Patronage until Great Persons - Clean up Patronage, Piety, Liberty - Open Freedom when available - don't get Tradition culture until Museums - Finish Tradition and Freedom.

 

[Moriarte]

I shoot for Currency/Drama/Philosophy (Civ dependent) with GL, Oxford for Radio.

4-5.

I want 8+ landmarks ASAP, but sometimes i bulb one Artist in the midgame. Permanent golden age for last 50 or so turns.

If faith allows settling them is good, Cathedrals should be a priority though.

Last game i played was with Korea (t.261) and this is the path i used:

Tradition Opener - Liberty's Representation - Aristocracy - Piety until reduced costs - Finish Tradition - Aesthetics - Meritocracy - Full Freedom - the rest.

Full liberty for GE (Petra) is also a good option, imo, with France.

Would be interesting to read what other cultural paths are in fashion these days.

 

[sanabas]

I haven't got close to researching Radio in any of my attempts yet.

Oxford I normally use for archaeology.

Tech path on my fastest game was fubared. I finished liberty early, I think to get a GA to settle, though possibly it was a GE for Petra. I used the 4 free culture buildings for ampitheatres, I forgot that hermitage needs its own tech. But that meant waiting at least 2 extra policies to open up piety, and all that bonus happy culture/cheaper policies. Also, finishing tradition and popping a great person when your capital is at 148/150 for a GA causes you to wonder where the GA you were supposed to get next turn has gone, and discover it's now at 151/300. Joys of learning the game, this month is the first time I've played in well over a year.

Culture path now seems to go tradition open --> liberty open --> production --> free settler --> free worker --> liberty golden age (unless piety is available) --> piety x 5, fill liberty, fill tradition (both subject to holding off until i can get 4 free opera houses/or because a GA is about to pop) --> freedom open & finished ASAP --> whatever's left. Hard to decide between commerce/patronage as 5th. Commerce is more culture from the bonus happiness, but I think patronage is more science.

My first spain game (4 cities, 1 CS and 3 AI puppet cities), I didn't register how much bonus culture there was from a golden age. Planted lots of GAs. Second Spain game (4 cities, completely peaceful, not even a stolen worker) I had a constant GA for the last 100+ turns, I think. But not enough planted.


Biggest thing slowing me is lack of science, I think. I've managed to steal Bronze Working via my spy on at least one occasion. Might be better off detouring my research path in order to get aqueducts much earlier, even though it means building/buying them myself.

 

[Durtag]

Is it possible to roll a GBR + El Dorado map? I think those together for this would be a powerful start.

Yes, I rolled an Islands map as Spain last week with GBR, El Dorado, and FoY. Shame I wasted that roll on screwing around, wish that would pop up again for HOF

 

[Zejinx]

Finally! After numerous failed attempts, a sub 250 run with France!!

Since everyone is so generous in posting their stuff I will post mine, see attachment~

I won on turn 247 on 1020AD with Napolean, that is even I got robbed on Desert Folkore and had to go with Fertility rites, I wish I could make the 1000AD mark but seems like that will be something I am going to work on this weekend
EDIT: Forgot to say that I popped 3 settlers with my scout and warrior... that probably helped a lot!

now I believe that turn 240 or sub-240 is possible... everyone gets motivated and get to work! ^_^

 

[Hyperion529]

yop, i think popping early settlers from ruins is a must for sub270. how many cultural CS were in your game?

 

[Zejinx]

yop, i think popping early settlers from ruins is a must for sub270. how many cultural CS were in your game?

I had 5 , and basically I allied with them from the beginning to the end once they were found. 1 was taken by Songhai about 10 turns before I finished my last policy tree which didn't make a difference, or I would have to go to war...
you can get anywhere between 2-5 of any kind of CS in a game, i guess i just got lucky~ but that was after a lot of attempts @@ I had attempts with 2 only cultural CS and it sucked for early game...

 

[Peets]

I'm trying for a fast date but I seem to fall behind very fast if I compare to most of the players here

 

[Moriarte]

Zejinx

Good job, man!

Couldn't believe my eyes, when i woke up this morning .

I guess Napoleon is the perfect (and stable) choice, since Ancien Regime is best for resolving 4-5 city dilemma, due to early culture perk.

I wonder though, will early religious tolerance outweigh early full liberty (for Petra rush, for example) with France..

 

[Tabarnak]

@Zejinx

Great game dude.

Some questions :

-At which turns did you hit Acoustics, Architechture and Archeology?

-At which turn did you ally most cultural cs?

I want to know if i can be at par with my current game. Playing with Pacal with 3 cities. I found a worker and a settler from ruins. I waited for Representation before settling 2 more cities. I got there pretty fast thanks to 2 culture ruins. Found 4 cs that i allied around the turn 70. Took the free engineer from UA for Petra. Got Acoustics on turn 118, 5 turns later i ''legalismed'' 3 opera houses.

Now at the turn 140 with 4/6 Trad, 4/6 Lib, 5/6 Piety and 1/6 Patronnage. I'm running approx 160 cpt.

 

[Hyperion529]

I had 5 , and basically I allied with them from the beginning to the end once they were found. 1 was taken by Songhai about 10 turns before I finished my last policy tree which didn't make a difference, or I would have to go to war...
you can get anywhere between 2-5 of any kind of CS in a game, i guess i just got lucky~ but that was after a lot of attempts @@ I had attempts with 2 only cultural CS and it sucked for early game...

wow, 5 is great. i only have 1 in my current game with Spain (i guess its more like 1-5 of any kind of CS) and i'm not sure if i should continue or start over with maybe Napoleon, Ramses or Askia instead. i've only reached acoustics at turn 130, so i'm probably too slow already anyway.

has anyone played with Songhai yet? do the barb camps give 225g each?

 

[ssjos]

@Zejinx

Great game dude.

Some questions :

-At which turns did you hit Acoustics, Architechture and Archeology?

-At which turn did you ally most cultural cs?

I want to know if i can be at par with my current game. Playing with Pacal with 3 cities. I found a worker and a settler from ruins. I waited for Representation before settling 2 more cities. I got there pretty fast thanks to 2 culture ruins. Found 4 cs that i allied around the turn 70. Took the free engineer from UA for Petra. Got Acoustics on turn 118, 5 turns later i ''legalismed'' 3 opera houses.

Now at the turn 140 with 4/6 Trad, 4/6 Lib, 5/6 Piety and 1/6 Patronnage. I'm running approx 160 cpt.

Don't you find it annoying that Pacal spawns all these useless great people?
He is actually a super strong starter but it really sux that it will be so hard to generate great people from cities once you have extracted the GP from his ability.

 

[FeiLing]

Wonder which tech path is best after Architecture? Do you guys go....?

A) Architecture --> Archaeology (via Oxford)
B) Architecture --> Archaeology (save Oxford for Radio)
C) Architecture --> Printing Press --> Archaeology
D) Architecture --> Printing Press --> Scientific Theory
E) something completely different

I'm feeling A as I always have trouble with being forced to delve too deep into the Patronage tree before Freedom becomes available. Radio however is also an important and damn expensive tech and then there's also the huge delay of Ironworks (I'm probably overrating this a lot) and more important: the Leaning Tower.