I love playing civs the "wrong" way, and this start just reinforces that

[iammaxhailme]

By wrong way I mean using a victory type that isn't typically used for that civ.

Sparta is not usually the science civ type. But if you look around, you'll see TONS of quality campus spots. Primarily this is due to the geothermal fissures; if you weren't aware these give +2 adjacency to campuses.

Knossos's is a +6!

Also slightly off map is Babylon, who gives +science to great works of writing, which I can get easily since I can make cheap acropoli.

 

[MarigoldRan]

With their hill bias (and hills are oftentimes near mountains) the Greeks are a science civ.

Any civ with a hill bias is potentially a science civ. (Inca, Korea obviously, Greece).

 

[Tyroq]

There's an achievement that rewards your type of thinking: winning a culture victory as Mongolia! I tried that once, but ended up just fighting everybody instead. It's not always easy to play against the grain, so to speak. Some civs are easier than others to swing around to different things. The Greeks are pretty versatile, as @MarigoldRan pointed out. Back in Rise and Fall, I won a domination as Pericles and a cultural as Gorgo. Thought that was pretty funny. But they are an easy civ to swing around. Maybe trying for a domination victory as Canada would be interesting, if you really want to play the "wrong way"

 

[Jkchart]

Sure, I get what you mean. Especially with dom civs since I'm not a fan of domination victories. I won dom once as Macedon, and then tried one as Mongolia. The Mongolia game ended in a science victory and was by far one of the most fun games I had. I steamrolled Korea and Indonesia, but Nubia slowed me down harshly. I never even conquered them because they were so dug in. I took their capital and another city, but couldn't go much further because they had so many Pitati archers, and Gilgamesh was a superpower until our long war devastated him late in the game. So, I ended up going unconventional with science and it was far more fun.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

There's an achievement that rewards your type of thinking: winning a culture victory as Mongolia! I tried that once, but ended up just fighting everybody instead. It's not always easy to play against the grain, so to speak. Some civs are easier than others to swing around to different things. The Greeks are pretty versatile, as @MarigoldRan pointed out. Back in Rise and Fall, I won a domination as Pericles and a cultural as Gorgo. Thought that was pretty funny. But they are an easy civ to swing around. Maybe trying for a domination victory as Canada would be interesting, if you really want to play the "wrong way"

To be fair if there's only one enemy capital left you probably have time to up your tourism.

 

[Victoria]

Maybe trying for a domination victory as Canada would be interesting

Not really. A lot of it is in your mind though... like the mongol peaceful victory.
I remember when I got to Mounties I got excited but TBH upgraded troops are cheaper and you just do not bother with the UU. I did use one though but it did not last that long, I got a bit too keen with it.
They really need to fix UU's so they feel like they are worth getting. Why on earth would civ's have used them in the first place otherwise.
I would love for a mountie to be able to destroy improvements and build national parks in other peoples lands during war. That would annoy the hell out of the inca's
"You are no longer allowed to tread your sacred paths" nice to dream for fun.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Play the map!

I have no idea why people would cling onto a preset strategy just because the civ desciption said so. Many things have synergy like culture can feed into science because they have boosts in both trees related to each other and religion can feed into culture because tourism. Yes, there are civs like America or Mongols where not going to war wastes most of the abilities but most civs are not like that. For example, China can use their builder ability for both science and cultural victories. And as England, you can just pick another civ. Wait....

 

[Navelgazer]

1. This looks awesome and a ton of fun to play.

2. Of all leaders, I think Gorgo is the one without a real "wrong" way to play her. Culture? Obviously built for that and the Acropolis is, as others have said, a purple Seowon. Domination? Also built around those concepts. Science? See above what a good hills bias can do for you. Diplomatic? Got a wildcard slot and ways to rocket through the civics tree to stay ahead on envoys. Religious? You can start earning GP points from Code of Laws if you so choose (and find an early natural wonder.)

 

[Caprikel]

One of the reasons I like Generalist Civs so much is that you're much more free to play to the map than with other Civs where their abilities might be wasted if you don't go for a certain VC. Whenever I play a Civ, I want to feel like I properly utilized all their abilities, and as such experienced everything they have to offer, in case I don't end up playing that Civ again.

 

[Zenstrive]

I always play the civs the wrong way since I usually either have science victory or domination victory....

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

I second the idea of playing the map and the game. A while back I played Catherine's France with the intention going into it for a CV. I quickly found myself not getting as much tourism as I wanted. I was also suzerain of three scientific city states. So I just went all in for science, and used my wonder building bonuses to get Oxford and Kilwa (even more science from my suzerainty.) It ended up being one of the more fun games I've played because of how I adapted to how the game unfolded and by taking a civ into an unorthodox direction.

 

[mitsho]

It's a great argument for the next civ game to not have the unique bonuses of all the civilizations preset at the start of the game, but allow for some flexibility throughout the game (not necessarily map-dependent, as that would be too pre-deterministic). Again, I don't know how to do that properly, but still.

 

[Leucarum]

Norway a fun religious victory civ I find. And they have barely any advantages there. There's something just amusing about spreading the word of Odin. Still, I hate religious victories on anything larger than a tiny map...

 

[iammaxhailme]

Norway a fun religious victory civ I find. And they have barely any advantages there. There's something just amusing about spreading the word of Odin. Still, I hate religious victories on anything larger than a tiny map...

That's not necessarily true, while the stave church may not be that game changing, being able to sail all around the globe early lets you spread to all continents before any other religion has a serious foothold

 

[Leucarum]

That's not necessarily true, while the stave church may not be that game changing, being able to sail all around the globe early lets you spread to all continents before any other religion has a serious foothold

Fair, and this was before the pillaging improvements so maybe I should retract my assessment...