Monarch Student^ XXIV Montezuma

[DanielTorrence]

@BigTime,

Spoiler :

I followed your version with converting the whole continent to konfuzianism - besides having all that money a religious love fest really ensures nice teching...was even able to get CS from the Oracle by teching math and finishing CoL exactly the turn when the oracle was build. I took the music detour for Sistine and got some other wonders to fight the culture press from Zara who peacevassalled right before I spied and rifled Germany and China (simulaniously )
I think, both the starting position on a hill and the land where pretty good in this game, werent they? I find intercontinental warfare still demanding, but the other continent was so backwards it didnt matter.

Corrected that, sorry, my mistake..

Thanks for hosting.

 

[BigTime]

@ DanielTorrence

I'd be nice if you put all that in spoiler, as it does give away map layout and AIs.

About the map,

Spoiler :

It all depends on what happens with religions. In both our games, the first three religions went on the other continent, causing a huge religious split and a slow tech rate. On our continent, we had one unified religion, making our tech speed much faster. The land wasn't even that fantastic, it's just the fact that a human with friendly AI neighbors tends to tech fast.

 

[DanielTorrence]

About the map,

Spoiler :

It all depends on what happens with religions. In both our games, the first three religions went on the other continent, causing a huge religious split and a slow tech rate. On our continent, we had one unified religion, making our tech speed much faster. The land wasn't even that fantastic, it's just the fact that a human with friendly AI neighbors tends to tech fast.

Spoiler :

I have to admit I tried several times to induce this exact situation because I wanted to see how it works out. A couple of times, Zara managed to get Hinduism, which made it a lot harder, of course he attacked me in the medival area. Also, in one attempt, the Oracle went around 1400 BC, in the final successful I had time until 525 BC to finish it..I guess thats what makes the game so captivating, even if you start the same save, every game turns out different. About the land: I liked the capital with good cottage land, about the rest, you are right, not much food, but cast/SP/workshops gave a decent production.

 

[ston]

My third MC attempt, and second Monarch victory!

Space, 1948. A bit later than it could have been, for reasons in the spoliers.

I was very tired when I finished, so forgot to grab a final save, sorry

Thanks to all involved for a great game! Very enjoyable

Spoiler :

Settling was very cramped, with Freddy placing cities 3 tiles from mine seemingly every time I planted one. He was in Taoism, whereas Mao, Zara and myself were all in a friendly relationship due to Confucianiam.

I had enough of Freddy's bumbling so took him out with elephants and cats. Zara and Mao dogpiled, Freddy cap'd to Zara and was left with one city in the Northern ice.

I won the lib race and grabbed astro as I was heading over to the other continent. They turned out to be ridiculously backwards; Kublai had vassaled to Alex, both disliking Pacal. I got some resource trades and the trade routes but that was about it.

So, time passes...and Alex declares on me. The power graph showed me as very weak against him, but it can't always be trusted So, after quite some years of waiting, Alex's deadly, terrifying...single frigate approches! What to do?! How do attack subs fare against frigates again?

I changed direction for a while, to get to the point of rush buying a ton of nukes and let fly. That really upset Mao who was friendly with him for some reason. Mao was also no longer friendly with the more advanced Zara and went after him...and Zara cap'd!

After that, it was just building the space ship, keeping a careful eye on both Mao and Alex. They both hated me and were in WHEOOHRN mode. I had enough defence to fend off an attack, or attack if I wanted to so wasn't too worried. The nuclear shenanigans and having to tech everything out myself slowed down the ending but after launching I cash-bought a ton more nukes and on the final turn...I set myself a new record! I've never had a civ with over a -100 diplo rating before

I found Monty to be really powerful to work with (having not played him very much), especially the sacrificial altar. I didn't build any jaguars, but I used the altars up to the point of whipping out factories in the 1700's. I had to give in to emancipation presure and switch civics then unfortunately. The no-anarchy civic switches are a trait that I don't play often, but found to be very useful.

Victory pic:

Spoiler :

Not-happy Alex:

Spoiler :