Everyone: Thanks very much for the useful tips. Don't forget, while I missed the wonder I wanted, don't forget that I did eventually win, it probably just took longer than it should have. Victory around 323, because I didn't get Globalism until well into the mid 200s. I was #1 in Tech at the end of the game, despite the slow start; Russia had built the Apollo Program but I think I was the only Civ in the Information Era at end game.
You should have taken a FPT pantheon (in your case, Goddess of Festivals) if you wanted to play a religious game or Sun God (4 wheat in range of your capital!) if you wanted to accelerate your early game.
You're completely right, an FPT Pantheon would have been much more useful than a Food Pantheon for my strategy.
3 things:
2. You shouldn't be struggling to get any wonders on Emperor or below. It's a piece of pie if you grow your cities and improve your production tiles. I suggest you research classic starting strategies on this forum, such as Tabarnak's Tradition guide.
Some good things in here, but I can't sell Lux in the way he describes because this is BNW.
3. A guy called FilthyRobot made a comprehensive video on YouTube about looking for the 'skeletons' of wonders as they are being built. Learn to recognise them. Since I watched this video, I can get whichever wonders I want 95% of the time on Deity, since I learned not to 'want' what I can't have
For instance, when I build Colossus, I have a really good look before committing the hammers.
I'll check it out.
Ok, here's how I see it. I will list my points in the same order as in the screenshots:
1. Your science is really low for this point in the game and you're building temples whereas you should be buildings Libraries. Therefore no NC yet. You should have also built more workers. Having 5 of them instead of 3 is a big difference in the early game.
Yeah, I figured this out before posting the screenshots. I guess Granary pays off too late, better to get more tech first.
WRT workers: Is the idea to have one more worker than cities? I didn't want to spend time building any troops, so I didn't want to steal workers from China. Besides for much of the game I couldn't even find any, and by the time I did, China's military was too strong.
2. You don't really have much water resources around, and yet you teched Optics when you should have gone straight through CS and then to Education. Also I don't think you should have teched Construction if you don't plan on going into an early war, which was also a possibility.
I teched optics for embarked movement, because I was trying to take advantage of my leader power and spread my religion with Papal Primacy to more CSes. Allying Antwerp and Kathmandu rescued my happiness situation, but I agree this could have waited.
3. You capital is small-ish for turn 111. You are building a Coliseum even though you have a Lighthouse available and your happiness is plentiful.
Lighthouse wouldn't have helped in such a small city, but what I really should be doing is building NC, not Lighthouse. Or be farther ahead in Tech and building something else
5. I think this is the biggest issue. You should ALWAYS finish Tradition before opening any other trees, Tradition is by far the strongest opening tree in the game and not only did you not get the finisher which is the best policy in the game, you also missed the bonus food to cap which would have made your cap even stronger.
I wanted to ensure I had unlocked Patronage to make Forbidden Palace, but I agree it could have waited. I certainly didn't need Consulates so early.
6. I dislike Papal Primacy, because it needs A LOT of effort to work, instead a gold generating founder would be much more useful.
It made allying CSes and taking control of the World Congress a ton easier and cheaper than it would have been without it. I had no military, I didn't need Tithe. I think it was a good decision
given that I had already screwed up my Tech and NC; on the other hand it did become somewhat useless later in the game when I had already allied all the CSes, and I could have used the money.
That being said, do you happen to have a turn 0 autosave so I can try out this map and see how much stuff I'd get. I promise not to whack China
I'll check when I get home.
Well, this might not help you in your current game, but here's an alternative strategy for a successful wonder spamming game on Emperor.
1. Pick Egypt
I'm not interested in a strategy that only works with one Civ. I am not trying to spam every single wonder, just one key early synergistic wonder while I work on other stuff. A wonder like Oracle is nice, but ultimately not too painful if I don't get it. On the other hand, not getting CI as Brazil going for Culture victory is quite painful, or not getting Forbidden palace going for Diplomatic victory as any Civ.
In addition, in an OCC you just don't have to cramp settlers into your production queue. In an OCC you are also fine with a single worker you likely have stolen.
What does OCC mean?
