[GS] Incredible start Gilgamesh Deity Pangea

[KingSolomon]

I just finished a science victory turn 252 my best game ever. I'm trying to improve as I know I still made a lot of mistakes along the way and the game could be won sooner. I thought it would be interesting if anyone here wants to play and share their main strategies/decisions. I can add my story, but I'm new and not used to the protocol yet. Save attached.

Spoiler Start Image :

 

[KingSolomon]

Below is my story - Chapter 1!

Spoiler Story :

Chapter 1 – Explore


Great start with nearby mountains, high output luxuries, and plenty of forest and jungle hills. I start building a scout to explore and find huts and city states, then a war cart to find barbarian camps. And wow there’s plenty to find!

Get first envoys for Buenos Aires, Brussels, Yerevan, and Valletta! They are surrounding my capital, but thankfully there Is plenty of space around them for me to settle. Hopefully no one else is around! I was lucky to get two envoys from camps which I sent to Buenos Aires to become suzerain.

But of course there is. Gitarja and her Indonesian empire are to the north. Since I’m jungles and she has mercury north that’s probably the top, box her in and I’ll have plenty of space to expand east south and maybe west. She turns friendly so I do not worry for a bit, but I keep an eye south of her territory.

And then there is Alex. Very scary. Send him an envoy immediately and pray he’s busy with someone else. Thankfully he becomes friendly in a few turns and I can declare friendship. Phew! One crisis averted. At least for 30 turns. Finally Hojo’s scout appears for my third neighbor. With alex and gitarja so close with water to the east, he must be further away so I share capital info. He’s not happy. Whatever, he has to go through Alex which I highly doubt will happen.

While exploring I feel pretty protected so I build a builder then a settler, as the area to my east looks great for production. Research mining then animal husbandry to improve my capital’s lands. Science continues with pottery and writing to get early campuses, then archery to upgrade slingers. Irrigation to improve the luxuries then bronze working to find iron. Turns out I settled on horses! That might come in handy.

I settle Kish on the plains hill surrounded by production with rice for growth. I first build a monument, then a campus, then a library. 6 turns for a campus in my second city. Lovely. Eridu I settle north west

I then build another settler, and I receive the parthenon with a free settler! Boom time to expand and stake my territory. First I send one towards Gitarja which should be far enough away she will not get angry, protected by my warrior and war cart. I sent the other settler south west to go towards the coast and block Alex from creeping.

With those settlers out I start to build a monument then a campus. I go for foreign trade and craftsmanship, drop in the card for 50% production and produce 3 slingers, while going for military tradition, drop in 50% production to calvary, and beeline political philosophy.

I’m keeping a watchful eye on the land to Gitarja’s south, and I see her start to bring a settler. I really want to take that land, but I’m going for a peaceful win so maybe I can block long enough to get my latest settler up there. Then, something magical happens. Gitarja moves her settler right in front of my warrior flanked by my war cart. Idiot. I was going for a peaceful win but this changes everything. I take the settler with my warrior, then move once tile per turn healing my warrior as he gets attacked, until I can transfer protection to my war cart and bring the settler to the river to apply pressure on her cities. I send my archers north and start building one in Eridu since it is closest and has great production. We are going to war!

 

[KingSolomon]

Chapter 2:

Spoiler Chapter 2 :

Chapter 2 – War with Indonesia


My scouts are exploring Alex’s land and seeing what and who is west of him while I go for Horseback Riding. I settle Lagesh with the stolen settler, and Ur with my last built settler. Both immediately start building campuses. I switch to Classic Replublic and drop in the cards for builders settlers +1 production and +2 influence to envoys. I want these city states as suzerains for the bonuses and to help me in case Alex decides I become too tempting. They have some nice armies. My next envoy goes to Valletta making me suzerain. Two down, three to go. I then build a builder in each city (not captured ones, those go straight to district building) replacing whatever they were building, then improve lands while they go back to building a campus or theater square or whatever.

The builders in Uruk and Kish I use to chop out two horses asap. My archers are covering well but to take these cities I need some real power. Usually I would mass produce war carts, but since she is down a settler and I’m slowly killing all her units with minimal casualties, I decide a couple strong horsemen will suffice and I can keep expanding my empire.

Once I chop out the two horsemen Kish builds a government plaza to help my loyalty then a trader since that is way late. Uruk places the theater square and churns out settlers. I send one west of Brussels to take those resources, but leaving room for a city south and one north of Tsingy. The other I send north of Kish to get on the water and take over all those beautiful hills and mountains. I beeline celestial navigation then currency so I can get some money flowing. Then shipbuilding for the movement then apprenticeship for the IZs. I also beeline feudalism so I can pre-build some builders and get a bunch of 5-build guys out at once on my way to Mercenaries.

But oh yea, we are at war. All of Gitarja’s warriors fall to my archers and blocking war cart, so I surround Mataram on its side of the river and take it down, pausing to take out a chariot. I place a theater square, then start repair city center buildings. I then go straight for Majapahit so loyalty doesn’t slow me down. My two horsemen make it north just in time to help me take down the capital, there seemed to be an endless stream of chariots spawning.

Once the capital fell Surabaya and Banjarmasin fell easily. Sura starts a theater, Maja starts a builder, Ban works on a. Lagesh finished the campus so it starts a library. Eridu builds an encampment to further deter Alex. I plan to build a aqueduct and IZ connecting the campus and encampment. Larak has the barbarians to worry about so I place a campus and start walls. Kish is cranking out workers while Uruk cranks out settlers.

Bye-bye Gitarja. Hello Gorgo. Found you southwest of Alex eh. Good you’ll stay occupied.

 

[KingSolomon]

Chapter 3:

Spoiler Chapter 3 :

Chapter 3 – Take Over the Australian Continent


Looks like Gorgo and Hojo want a fight, they declare a joint war against me. Scary if they actually send troops since I’m running a skeleton crew. I decide to prioritize walls to give me some comfort. I put in the 100% campus card and 100% defensive building while throwing walls to the top. Also met Swedish Kristina, send an envoy but bad first impression I guess.

Next for building is more districts as my cities grow. Maja builds a commercial hub, Mata a campus, Sura places a commercial hub, Lagesh places a theater, Eridu aqueduct, Larak a harbor, and the remaining granaries/water mills in cities that do not have them.

Two sources of Niter are revealed which is nice! I will most likely trade for gold. In terms of researching I went apprenticeship, then machinery and stirrups for upgrades, then buttress to get dams before education for universities. Gunpowder to upgrade my warrior and then work towards industrialization to get factories and ruhr valley.

Civics I just work on filling in medival era so I can get more envoys to keep me as suzerain and get to 6 envoys each.

All the while my settlers from Uruk are populating the land around Tsingy and NE of Larak. I decide not to continue building settlers and focus on districts leaving the SE empty – hopefully I do not regret that missing out on Oil or something.

After districts get placed chopped, I build each tier by tier prioritizing science, then gold, then culture, then religion. Once Education completed I put universities in each city with a campus.

Thankfully war was just posturing and I made peace for free. I still upgrade my units and finally go take care of that barbarian camp.

I have too much unimproved land so build a builder in each city that takes ~6 or less turns within the research. Each city that built a commercial hub then builds a market and trader for Beunos Aires to get gold and production boosts. I also place IZs in many cities trying to place an aqueduct or dam for the extra adjacency bonuses. Isin builds a harbor planning for a commercial hub to link the city and campus, and Eridu finishes its triangle.

 

[KingSolomon]

Chapter 4:

Spoiler Chapter 4 :

Chapter 4 – Build Build Build


After industrialization and scientific theory I beelined chemistry to get research labs ASAP. Civics is Exploration first to transition to Merchant Republic then fill out renaissance era. I prioritize building university, districts, research labs, workshops/factories, then other district projects.

After Maja builds a factory I start ruhr valley, and thankfully I get Filipo Brunellechi for free wonder construction production so I send him north to speed that up. Then I keep building district projects. Once that completes I start building a spaceport in Maja to lead my space race project building. Eridu builds Oxford University and Kish build Casa de Contratacion while I have the +15% wonder card in for ruhr valley, watching for Gustave Eiffel to rush those.

I totally failed at religion, Hinduism is not looking good for longevity. I try to start building apostles but Japan is too strong.

After Chemistry I beeline refining for oil and replaceable parts, then electricity before rocketry. Civics I go for civil engineering for more builders, then more envoys to get my city states up to 9 each. Finally I research sattelites and fill in atomic era.

I then decide to drop in the +30% builders and +2 actions and churn them out everywhere reasonable, building ziggurats on rivers, solar farms elsewhere, and any resources not yet improved. I also build flood barriers everywhere needed as soon as it became available.

 

[KingSolomon]

The Final Chapter:

Spoiler The Final Chapter :

Chapter 5 – The Final Chapter


Once I start building space race projects I finish the district works in progress then start Campus Research Grants and Industrial Zone Logistics to get the great scientists and engineers to speed up space race production. I build a couple entertainment complexes for amenities but otherwise I stick to the projects. This is also the first game I built wind farms in the sea tiles.

I buy a spaceport in Uruk when its time ot build Terrestrial items and that’s it. Anti-climatic as usual but a win is a win.

 

[KingSolomon]

Here are all the saves.

 

[KingSolomon]

Or not, here's the rest.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

I just downloaded the start file and looked at the screenshot.
Too tired right now but will mess with it later.
I will play GOTM Style and give you an update in a few days.
I didn't read any of your other posts.
I may come down off that hill if I can get next to that Culture Luxury.
I may even just settle on that Luxury on turn 3 to get Culture and a Fast Trade.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

@KingSolomon
Not sure if I will finish this as I am not a fan of the settings and mod.
Thanks for the post though as I like to collaborate.
I may play it up to turn 100 and compare stats.

Spoiler Turn 1 -36 Write Up :

I just kinda dove into this not thinking about it.
The next time you do this you might want to post the Map Type and Settings.
I realized after a few turns that this must be a Small map with only 5 other AIs.
Religion only had 4 total so something was different.
This map seems like Wet/New as I see plenty of everything.

The worst part is the MOD you have on the game which is Production Queue.
It is good to let everyone know what mods you are running when you post a file.
So I downloaded that MOD and disabled it but it still works in game.
I find it to be a pain to work with.
I personally don't like any mods except the Civ V skin mod.

All this said I did play up to turn 36 and will have a Classical Golden Age.
My Faith Generation is lacking though.
I have a few plans.
Scouting, Expansion, War, Ziggurats... etc etc.

So I moved over to the Coffee for the Culture Settle.
I didn't realize it was a plains hill till after the settle so that was a nice surprise.
I used the warrior to scout West and to the North circling back to the East.
He went South East a bit and back near the Capital finally heading North East.
I have him resting as I am at 25/25 Era Score now.

My build order was Scout, Builder for a few turns and switch to settler.
This was to get pop 3 aligned.
After realizing the production queue was messing with me it took some time to learn.
After the Settler I built a builder switching Culture Tree direction to coincide the timing.

I found Yerevan early enough but still ran God King to get a faster Religious Settlement.
I popped that for 3 settlers.
I settled the first expo to the South East on the Coffee again for quick trade.
The third city was placed next to the Pigs and Mountain to the South West of Uruk.

So after Scout, Settler, Builder I plopped down a Campus and decided to build it in 6 turns for the boost.
Warcart after that of course for the Era Score.

I went with Pottery First this game trying to get a fast Writing.
This was because I didn't see many Mining or AH tiles around so I delayed those.
Also with Warcarts I figure I didn't need Archers/Horses.

My Expos both plopped down Campuses but went with Monuments First.

I found 4 CS's so far.
2 Production
1 Military
1 Faith
None of them very special but Zuggarats are good enough.
I did ally Buenos Aires for the Era Score.
It just fell that way... I didn't focus on that.

I ran into Gitarja first followed by Alex and Japan.
Killed one Barb Camp so far and one scout is waiting for the coast to clear for a goody hut.

So far I sold 2 Coffee and 1 Gypsum and will sell the Pigs soon.
I bought a builder and a few tiles with the loot so far.
Culture seems to be lacking on this map so I should work on boosting that.

Spoiler Turn 36 Screenshot :

 

[Fluphen Azine]

I played this game up to turn 61 before saving yesterday.
The Production Queue Mod is driving me crazy lol.
I hate it!
The game is already easily won though, just depends on how fast and what path.
Could go SV but Domination probably would be quicker/easier at this point.
Here is a bit more write up and a bunch more screenshots...

Spoiler Turn 37 - 61 Write Up :

I decided to hard build another settler in the capital.
This probably was a mistake and slowed me down in turn time.
With this Civ you probably just want to WarCart Rush earlier.
Anyways... this worked out pretty good too.
I got Japan to give me 116g and 18gpt to start the War with Indonesia.
Alex joined in for only 1 gold bar.
Indonesia hardly has an army and is getting ravaged by Barbs.
The Barbs are now more trouble than I like.
I took two cities on my way to the capital while pillaging some Faith.
Of course I went Golden Age Monumentality.
I Faith Rushed a builder because waiting for a settler seemed too long.
The Mod is messing with my district placement... hate this Mod.
So I hard built a few WarCarts once I got the proper Policy Card.
I went with Autocracy and switched to Oligarchy.
I already had the tech lead before turn 50 and plan to place a bunch of Zuggarats soon.
That's about it.
I figure I can take over Indonesia and work on Alex after the DoF expires.
Back Fill all that land to my South and East.

Spoiler Turn 54 - 61 Screenshots :

 

[Fluphen Azine]

played a little bit more before getting tired.

Spoiler Up to Turn 76 :

I had a difficult time earning enough faith to buy settlers.
I may have got one.
I gold bought 2 or 3 and chopped/hard built 3 or 4 more.
Looks like 10 cities at turn 76.
2 settlers traveling to settle.
1 more city to capture.
A few more built and rushed.
Should be able to get up 15 or more by turn 100.
Fun but a bit tedious as that Mod messes with my build orders.

 

[KingSolomon]

Thanks for playing! I’m just getting caught up now.

Thank you for the advice on initial posts and the mods, too.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

I played it up to turn 100 for now.
I was only able to get out 15 cities.
16 actually as I took a Japanese City but it will flip most likely.
Japan and Sweden Double Dowed me... probably time to make peace now.
War is probably in the near future.
Late Colosseum should arrive by turn 105 or less, hopefully.
I placed it poorly.
I could of put it a bit north and captured 2 extra cities.
That would of been smarter.

Spoiler Turn 100 Empire :