How many have gotten a cultural victory while...

[BLtheKid]

...having only three cities in total to work with?

I'm playing at the Immortal level (Vanilla but I'm presuming the question can extend to BTS also).

I'm playing a standard size map with 12 Civs in total. It's now 1400 BC and I've got three decent cities to work with. I can add a fourth most likely but beyond that I'll have to attack rivals. I did that successfully to win a game with 11 Civs but it was Gandhi so maybe that doesn't count as much and I try to avoid doing that if I can.

I wonder if I can win with just three cities?

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Pretty much everything get easier the more cities you have. Yes Im sure you can win with 3 cities but it is going to be tough. Assuming you use great artist bombs in one city to get it to 50000 culture you are still going to need the other two cities to have very good amount of commerce and you want access to as many religions as possible to build as many cathedrals as possible in these two cities.

 

[BLtheKid]

I won my first attempt at 13 total Civs on a Standard map - I had 6 cities. The interesting thing is I got Judaism pretty much immediately and no additional religions the entire game. Victoria landed four Infantry on my land on the very last turn - the first invasion the entire game.

One key for me is to avoid being attacked until I get everything going - I like Universal Sufferage, Free Speech, Caste System, Mercantilism and Pacifism. I don't usually get to Rifling (I did last game though) - Grenadiers usually do the job for me though. Military Tradition is good to get also (for Cossacks, although last game I had no horses) - but maybe even more valuable is the allowance for Defensive Pacts.

The more Civs there are, the harder it will be for me to get 6 cities. I've usually been able to get to four somewhat early and then fit two additional ones within my borders later on.

I won my last game after 1950 - no Civs had even started building Thrusters yet. I may not have many cities but a lot of Civs only have 3 cities themselves so it makes it a lot harder on them to do anything too quickly and takes the pressure off me time-wise.

I had four really good cities in my first attempt with 14 Civs but unfortunately ignored my military way too much with Alex south of me (I also made the bad move of having Open Borders with me - I think he may have scouted and saw how weak I was). He easily got one of my cities and was probably going to continue on to a second one when I decided to throw in the towel.

 

[Bandobras Took]

I did it with Qin on one of the PYLs in the Strategy & Tips forum. I think it was on Monarch. I had one city building wonders, one city getting all the Great Artists generated, and finally a third city running lots of artists (I think it was a National Park city with a Hermitage).

As to why I did it, it was a pretty lousy start position, but all my neighbors had different religions and were spending the game beating the tar out of one another. Nobody attacked me even once despite my pathetic military.

 

[BLtheKid]

I had a game over the weekend (14 total Civs, Immortal) and won with just three cities (and only one religion). When there are so many Civs and not much land (Standard map), it's hard for the other Civs to get a Space Race victory quickly. I won in 1902 and I'm not sure if anyone was even building Thrusters yet.

I had my first game today with 15 total Civs, again only one religion (religion doesn't seem to spread that much with a lot of Civs either for some reason). Moscow had 6 Clams, 1 Fish and 1 Marble (I had that pumping out 93 GA points per turn before that idiot Julius Caesar attacked me out of nowhere and I had no possibility to defend given the differences in our military. Otherwise, I think I was on the way to winning again, probably in the late 1900's. My other two cities were only getting about 120 culture per turn but at least they were also generating 24 to 30 GA that would have come into play for two extra GAs later on.

I was able to build The Sistine Chapel (most games I don't build any wonders at all) but had to take special measures this game. I narrowly missed the Parthenon and being the first to Theo, which I almost never research or trade for.

 

[BLtheKid]

Four losses with 15 total Civs now. It is a big achievement to actually get three real cities of your own (as opposed to two and forcing the third within your borders later on). I managed it last game - nothing amazing but a possible winnable game. And then around 600 AD, Cyrus (same religion and +3 modifier with no negatives at all) is right on my border all of a sudden with six units. It makes no sense for him to attack me and I'm hoping he doesn't but he does - I'm almost able to fight him off but not quite. And then he razes the city - completely senseless. Attack someone with the same religion who is not on your border and then don't even expand your empire at the same time, when cities are at a premium.