India Photojournal - King Difficulty with Mods Galore

[KaoticKanine]

Ello everyone!

I've been meaning to make a new photojournal ever since my previous attempt with Babylon (which I hope all of you have forgotten about). And since India, one of my favorite Civs to play, has been buffed with this patch, I decided I'll attempt a photojournal of that. I will admit, I have a habit of blazing through my games (not the most patient person) so I won't have a lot of screenshots, but I will make sure to capture key moments. I'm also still trying to improve my overall skill at this game and may make some foolish plays. Feel free to critique me on any of those, but hope y'all enjoy my game nonetheless.

Now, reason why I'm calling this "Mods Galore" is because I like to play with a lot of Mods, with a few having major gameplay impacts. If that's a deal breaker for some of you, well, I'm sorry. But I find these mods fun and my photojournals would be purely casual playthroughs anyway. I ain't going to be winning Immortal difficulty anytime soon, and I don't even get how certain players are able to consistently win Deity. Anyway, the Mods are...

Spoiler Mods :

• 3rd and 4th UCs by pineappledan- Most of y'all should know this mod by now. Adds an extra UU (military or GP) and an extra UB, UI, or UNW for each Civ. For India, this mod gives them: Dhanurdhara, stronger Archers that gain Culture and extra XP on kills and gains scaling amounts of Culture and Faith on leveling up. And the Qila, Castles that yields +2 Culture, converts 25% of City Defense into Culture, gives +3 Tourism on unlocking the Flight tech, and more importantly adds more HP to the owned City for every World and National Wonder built.
• Community Patch Events by Engineer- Adds more Events to VP, including events specific to each Civ and even Natural Wonders. I'll certainly showcase these events as they occur in this game.
• More Wonders by adan_eslavo- Adds, well, more World and Natural Wonders to VP lol And alongside that, this mod also changes the vanilla Natural Wonders to have different yields and effects (for instance, Mt. Kilimanjaro only grants 'Altitude Training' to newly created Recon Units), as well as adding building requirements to each existing World Wonder in the game. You want to build Petra? Well, you're gonna need to be adjacent to a Desert and have a mountain within two spaces of your city in your border. Also, World Wonders can go obsolete; for example, if you enter the Renaissance Era, you can no longer build Terracotta Army if it hasn't already been built. Certainly restrictive, but makes sense since there's a buttload more wonders to make, and I do like the challenge of meeting these requirements to build these wonders.
• Unique City-States by Enginseer- Essentially gives City-States their own UAs that are provided to their Allies, as well as adding new City-States to the game. For instance, Ur makes City Connections generate +2 Food. And more drastically, Jerusalem automatically adopts the majority Religion of their Ally, with the Religious Pressure of a Holy City, and will establish a Sphere of Influence once the WC comes online. I actually considered not using this mod for a while since it makes Diplomatic Civs even more powerful, but I just like the City-States having their own identities lol
• Ethnic Diversity by Gedemon (modified by Nutty and Dolan2)- Changes the models of each Civ's Units to match their culture's ethnicity. Purely cosmetic, but forces me to play with lower graphic settings so as to not crash and stuff. Don't really care about that though lol And not like we need the Leader Screens to have motion anyway.
• Even More Resources for VP by HungryForFood- Adds more bonus and luxury resources to VP. With this mod, you can have Potatoes as the Inca (though sadly those require Plantations, not Terrace Farms). Also adds new and really unique monopoly bonuses, such as Obsidian giving +10% Combat Strength when attacking (supremely good for Sweden), and Poppies giving +25% GP Generation to all Cities.
• Historical Religions Edit by Tomatekh- Adds 13 more religions to the game, specifically religions that each vanilla Civ historically followed. If Iroquois were to found a religion, they'll do 'Orenda', not Protestantism, and the Inca would found 'Pachaism', and so on. Purely cosmetic.
• Really Advanced Setup by General Tso- Drastically expands the Advanced Setup screen for additional options. I only really use this to completely blacklist certain Civs from ever being AI in my games due to being too much of a pain in the butt to play against. Otherwise, no real gameplay change. Banned Civs will be shown in the settings pics.

Spoiler Game Settings :

Spoiler Turn 0 :

I had to reroll for a few times cause the game was giving me Tundra starts for some reason. But mercifully, I was able to get possibly the most ideal start for India; Flood Plains galore with Quarry luxury resources.

Flood Plains in general are best for India since their Harappan Reservoir gives those tiles +1 Production, as well as an extra +1 Production with a Farm. And the Lapis Lazuli as our guaranteed luxuries just gives us even more Gold via Cathedrals, a religious building you'll always want to get as India since you'll be making a lot of farms anyway. The Oasis' are also a big plus as they also benefit from the Harappan Reservoir.

I was heavily inclined to move the Settler to the Hill that left of the bottom Oasis since I intend to go Tradition (which is better served away from the coast) and I'd need my Capital off the coast in order to build the 'Mohenjo-daro', a Neolithic World Wonder (which are available from the start but become obsolete the moment you enter Classical) that can only be built on Desert Rivers away from the Coast. It's a very juicy wonder to get as India since it gives +1 Food to every single River Tile in City's borders and grants a free Well (even though Rivers allow for the much better Waterwheel, but whatevs). Buuut I didn't want to take the chance of not settling the capital for 2 or 3 turns for a wonder that could get taken very quickly. And I wanted to have access to the Crab with a Lighthouse and Harbor boosting that resource's yields, so I settled on the spot my settler started on.

As India, I founded a Pantheon immediately on settling, and of course I went for 'Spirit of the Desert' to get max yields from our Desert resources and more food from the oasis'.

Spoiler Turn 15 :

Explored a good deal, got some ruins that expanded my territory and upgraded my scout. I'm also thankful that I settled on the spot as there really wasn't a desirable spot for a second city to obtain the Crab. And I discovered that Arabia and Austria are my neighbors.

Figures that two of the strongest Tradition Civs would be present when I'm going for Tradition India -_- I know Progress and Authority are always options, but I don't like the constant warfare Authority requires and I don't see much desirable space for the plethora of cities Progress demands. I'm confident I'll pull through, though. I intend on getting all the "Great People bonuses" first, owing to my better religion game, and that will cripple Arabia and Austria's GP Generation. And Austria is much more focused on City-States for Diplomatic Victory while I'm going for Culture Victory, which doesn't care about City-States, so she should be a non-issue. Just a matter of how many wonders Arabia will snag from me and if he gets too far in techs and policies.

Spoiler Turn 22 - 23 :

KOREA!!! Freaking Korea's in the game and I'm cursing my RNG. While it's better than having super-expansionist, warmongering neighbors, I do not like this competition for Tradition. I can only hope I can get at least two of the three exclsuive wonders for Tradition, the priority being University of Sankore; same bonuses as usual, but can only be built in a Desert city with a Library already built. Looks to be Arabia is the only competitor there, in which case backup would be Notre Dame; which More Wonders makes into a Tradition exclusive Wonder that only requires the city to have a Flat plot with River, also same bonus as vanilla. A good wonder, but Sankore is better.

There's also that "silver mountain" NW, which More Wonders modified to grant 1 copy of Silver and an extra trade route to the owner. Very tempting, but not really crucial to my gameplan and the surrounding terrain doesn't really help me. No fresh water for baths, no nearby desert save for the single flood plain, and it's right underneath Arabia. Harun can have that Natural Wonder, I'm settling that desert hill the Warrior is atop.

I also take the risk to start building 'Karnak' in the capital, an Ancient Era World Wonder added by More Wonders. It requires a Flat plot with Flood Plains and/or Oasis, and it not only makes both Features better but gives a free Monument, as well as adding +1 Culture to every Monument in empire. The free Monument doesn't feel really useful since you're going to build a Monument first if you're going Tradition or Authority in order to get both policies fast. But stronger Monuments in my satellite cities is always nice, and improved oasis' would be nice.

One turn later, I unlock my first policy and stick to my plan by going Tradition. In hindsight, though, I should've waited on that Settler so I'd get 6 Pop but whatever. With Arabia that close to me, I ain't taking the chance of him settling my desired spots first.

Spoiler Turn 26 :

Mumbai has been founded and my Scout discovered a really good spot for a city complete with a really good Natural Wonder, added by More Wonders: 'Lake Retba', which removes 1 Food from adjacent tiles but provides +5% global growth to the owner, becomes +10% growth during WLTKD, AND grants 15 Tourism for every birth within the city. Being a Civ that's really good at growing and wants tourism, this Natural Wonder is a must-have for me. The catch? Vienna is right there...

Of all the freaking luck... I could forward-settle that Plains tile in between the two lakes, but I also have to try and claim that coast to the north-west so Arabia doesn't take it.

Spoiler Turn 32 :

My risky play pays off as I managed to secure Karnak. My oasis and flood plains just got even better.

Spoiler Turn 52 :

I was unfortunately too late to claim Lake Retboa in time, but I was able to settle all the spots I wanted otherwise.

Nonetheless, I want that NW and those lakes. Since Austria doesn't get her UUs until at least late medieval, while India has a powerful Archer replacement, I figure I can make an attempt to capture and raze Graz. And so I start producing Warriors and will declare war on Austria as soon as I unlock Calendar. Good thing there are some barb camps for my warriors to get XP from.

Spoiler Turn 63 :

I manage to birth a Great Prophet first and wasted no time founding my religion.

While new founder beliefs had been added with this patch, I decided to stick to the tried and true Ceremonial Burial with Tradition. Also helps to deny this belief from Arabia, Austria, and Korea. And while Cathedral is tempting to go with first, I decided to take Mandirs as my first follower since, in my experience, that building is bound to get claimed by any other founding Civ. Cathedral on the other hand always manages to be untouched by the time I enhance, so that's a safe bet to get later.

And that's all I got for now. Here's hoping the rest of this game goes smoothly In the meantime, y'all enjoy.

 

[BlessingsBeUponYou]

I'm glad to see another King player posting a game here! Now people can stop watching me lose all the time. Also, thanks for explaining what the other mods do - that information is helpful to someone who doesn't use them. I'd love to give advice, but I have never played India in Vanilla or Vox Populi. Looking forward to the next post!

 

[KaoticKanine]

I'm glad to see another King player posting a game here! Now people can stop watching me lose all the time. Also, thanks for explaining what the other mods do - that information is helpful to someone who doesn't use them. I'd love to give advice, but I have never played India in Vanilla or Vox Populi. Looking forward to the next post!

Here here! We really need more casual photojournals in here. For the longest time, I thought you HAD to be able to play Immortal at least to be allowed to make a photojournal lol Hence why my previous attempt went disasterously (coupled with not knowing how to properly play Babylon). Anywho, thanks for your support ^^ Next part is coming up soon.

 

[KaoticKanine]

Spoiler Turn 64 :

Immediately after founding religion, I unlock Calendar and receive my UU. I decided to purchase one and queue up a lot more.

Spoiler Turn 78 :

I got my invasion force ready and start advancing on Graz. On the way, I notice that Austria has a Settler ready. Surely Maria won't settle in a way that screws me over, right?

Spoiler Turn 82 - 83 :

FREAKING-!!! Maria Theresa, you stupid female dog! I will behead you like the French revolutionaries did to your daughter!

*Sighs* Well, at least I can still settle a new city in the desired spot. Really wish I didn't have to take out another city just to get all the Lake tiles, though.

Maria also noticed the huge amount of troops against her border and asked me if I wanted to war. Being the honest guy that I am, I had to say "Yes".

It is on.

Spoiler Turn 100 - 103 :

I lost a few good men and it was a bit of a struggle, but Graz was secured.

I was so ready to take Linz right after, but at it happens the Catapult can't shoot over the trees without another unit providing vision, and most of my melee aren't available. So when Maria reached out to me for a peace deal with GPT and a lux, I decided to take it. Linz will fall sooner than later anyhow.

After Graz finished razing, I settled Agra and tile purchased Lake Retba.

Spoiler Turn 112 :

Religion enhancement time! Just as predicted, the Cathedrals were still available and I take those as my 2nd Follower. And for my Enhancement belief, I took Symbolism, ensuring I'd be pumping out Great People like nobody's business.

Now I just gotta start spreading my religion, which is tough to do as India due to no Missionaries. Though with the improved religious pressure, I'm sure I'll be able to convert my neighbors with some Caravans. Just a matter of building them, but I got so much on my plate...

Just before this turn, I sent my Scout to explore north of Vijayanagara and discovered that Arabia had been settling a whole lot more cities then I expected. And Korea is just beyond there. I was wondering why Harun was so chummy with me despite settling close to him; he's got plenty more spots to claim.

Spoiler Turn 140 - 141 :

I advance into the 2nd tier policy trees and decided to go with Artistry.

This is actually a tough choice with India because, in many ways, Fealty suits the Civ better, even when going Tall. Fealty improves overall religion play and boosts both Food and Production, which India excels at. Buuut I got a monopoly on Lapis Lazuli, which improves Golden Ages, the focus of Artistry, and the policy tree also helps a lot better with tourism and culture generation, which I'll need if I'm going to overcome Arabia. So, Artistry felt like the best option. We'll see if it bites me in the butt soon enough.

The very next turn, after much anticipation and going as far as to build a Manufactory on a Stone tile, I got University of Sankore!

Suddenly, my confidence at pulling ahead in this game has shot up.

With two important objectives accomplished (and hitting my 10 image limit), I'm calling it a day for now. Hope y'all enjoy and see you next post.

 

[KaoticKanine]

Got the day off from work today, so I decided to continue this India game. And... Well, this might be ending much sooner than I hoped.

Spoiler Turn 143 :

I birthed a Prophet and decide to send him to Korea, since Prophets have 4 conversion charges and Korea has exactly 4 cities.

Spoiler Turn 151 :

Turns out that Prophet ended up going to waste cause Arabia has a tight religious grip on Korea. Literally, he converted these cities back to Islam right after I enlightened them to Hinduism. Should've sent that Prophet to Indonesia instead...

Maria also unexpectedly declared war and forced me to start scrambling units to protect Agra.

Spoiler Turn 160 :

*Sighs* I cannot overstate how much I hate, HATE, the production bonuses the AI gets. Austria having this many units is obscene and really makes warring in this game un-fun for me. Doesn't matter how many units I could kill, Maria has hundreds more just at the capital. I'm producing and purchasing as many units as possible, while still trying to maintain good infrastructure, but her damn Knights kill my troops right when new ones get made.

Spoiler Turn 167 :

Got another Great Prophet and sent him to try and convert Indonesia to Hinduism before Arabia gets an iron-grip there. Aaand freaking Gaja Madah DOWs me right after my Prophet did the first conversion, and killed him instantly. Let this be a reminder to NOT accept Defensive Pacts.

Spoiler Turn 170 :

Despite my best efforts, Austria's units overwhelmed mine and Agra got taken. RIGHT when it finally finished the damn Qila too.

I resolve to try and retake it, but I soon realize a big problem in that there are only three spots from which I can do ranged strikes on the city. Should've settled on the hill just above...

Spoiler Turn 177 :

ARE YOU SERIOUS, GAME?!?!?! You just HAVE to spawn barbarians right there, right then?! Also, now I need to build loads of siege cause Austria got walls up in Agra. -_-*

Spoiler Turn 180 :

Extremely inconvenient barb camp is gone, but at this point I just gave up on this game. I have no chance of retaking Agra, Austria is most likely going to kick my ass further with her excessive amounts of units while all of mine are close to dead. And Arabia's religion has just completely dominated this continent, with Harun very likely to start snowballing like crazy.

Perhaps I should just let Agra go, focus on the 5 cities I still have. Especially since that's the optimal cities for Tradition anyhow. But it's really frustrating losing a city, especially one with a pretty crucial Natural Wonder...

So, yeah. That's game. I really didn't want to end it on this kind of note, but I seriously have no desire to continue this game after this crapfest. Besides, a new version of VP just came out (literally dropped right after I made this thread), and a certain change to a Freedom tenet has me wanting to try a new photojournal of a certain Civ.

I'll definitely give India another try later on, this time with a much better start than this. As it happened, having a capital on the coast really wasn't good because so many ideal wonders for India cannot be built on the coast. And I've had way bigger flood plains starts than this.

Feel free to point out every little mistake I made in the course of this game and all that jazz. I'll see you guys in the next photojournal.

 

[der_weihnachtsmann]

I dont see you producing any units in the later screenshots. If you are at war, and especially if you are losing, you really shouldn't build anything else.

 

[der_weihnachtsmann]

Also, note that Austria is lowest in points. That she has so many units is not due to the production bonuses, she only maxed out her supply cap instead of focusing infrastructure and had all her troops by the border. You troops seem to be missing? It says you have 13 units turn 130, so why are they not there?

Edit:Turn 160

 

[der_weihnachtsmann]

You should generally always look at relations to neighbouring civs. If they aren't friends with you (and that is sometimes not enough) , they are going to attack you, if you dont have enough units, especially if they arent near the border.

 

[azum4roll]

Got another Great Prophet and sent him to try and convert Indonesia to Hinduism before Arabia gets an iron-grip there. Aaand freaking Gaja Madah DOWs me right after my Prophet did the first conversion, and killed him instantly. Let this be a reminder to NOT accept Defensive Pacts.

Weird, wasn't that a backstab? He should have no reason to do so. @Recursive ?

 

[KaoticKanine]

Weird, wasn't that a backstab? He should have no reason to do so. @Recursive ?

Well, he didn't declare war on me so much as he declared on Arabia, and I had a defensive pact with Arabia. So, there was no real choice in the matter lol Not sure if that should count as a backstab or not, but inconvenient nonetheless.

I dont see you producing any units in the later screenshots. If you are at war, and especially if you are losing, you really shouldn't build anything else.

Yeah, that's something I realized in hindsight. I have a bad habit of focusing on infrastructure and wonders over units, especially since I was dealing with severe unhappiness earlier. I'll make sure to focus only on units during war.

Also, note that Austria is lowest in points. That she has so many units is not due to the production bonuses, she only maxed out her supply cap instead of focusing infrastructure and had all her troops by the border. You troops seem to be missing? It says you have 13 units turn 130, so why are they not there?

Edit:Turn 160

I had one archer each garrisoned in the other cities to protect from barbarians, since as you saw those pests like to spawn and attack when least expected. I contemplated moving them to help retake Agra, but since I didn't get the chance to build much roads, they would've arrived too late to be of real help.

As it happens, though, I realized that Events were not enabled in this game, when I meant to play with Community Events. So, this game was kind of void to begin with lol And I'm thinking from now on I'm going to play with Tectonic Map Script or another map that offers more room. Big problem I'm finding with Communitu is that Civs are grouped up close and it forces you to forward settle like mad. Good for warmongers, not so good for more peaceful civs.

 

[azum4roll]

Well, he didn't declare war on me so much as he declared on Arabia, and I had a defensive pact with Arabia. So, there was no real choice in the matter lol Not sure if that should count as a backstab or not, but inconvenient nonetheless.

It is. AI should avoid doing that.

 

[azum4roll]

Big problem I'm finding with Communitu is that Civs are grouped up close and it forces you to forward settle like mad. Good for warmongers, not so good for more peaceful civs.

Well it's the same size as Continents which the mod is balanced on.

 

[adams643]

It is. AI should avoid doing that.

Not sure if this is a bug or not, but I have noticed in my games I don't get backstab penalty if I DOW through a defensive pact

 

[adams643]

Let this be a reminder to NOT accept Defensive Pacts.

Defensive Pacts are fine, only in this case it serves you no purpose. The only real threat you face through army at that stage of the game is Arabia, so a defensive pact with him doesn't help you at all. For example, if Indo, Korea or Austria DOW you, how is Arabia going to help you defend? Not much, as Korea and Indo will need to go through Arabia to get to you, and Austria is nowhere near them, therefore they can't help you, you can't help them..

I only defensive pact an AI if they have access to a civ that is a threat to me, as then the civ I am fighting will have to divert units away from fighting me to fight somewhere else.

 

[azum4roll]

Having a DP is a deterrent of war by itself, since your DP's friends will avoid declaring war on you.