My Final Game - All Modes - T100 Science Victory

[Minou]

With Civ 7 on the horizon, I decided to try one last game of Civ 6. I have leaned very strongly into speed runs because I find that the AI makes essentially no effort to actually beat the player after the early game. I once managed to win a space. I'm going for it all - T100 Science Victory (Deity, Standard Size Map, Continents) with All Modes on for maximum complexity / whackiness / fun. No cheats or replaying turns but I'll go as cheesey as necessary with things like letting cities flip to pillage more. Because this is (probably) my last game before I migrate to Civ 7 I wanted a great start. Here it is:

The start is almooooost perfect though I wish there wasn't so much desert wasting the wonder tiles. And, we whiff on the 50% chance of revealing a Hero for finding a Natural Wonder.

Secret Societies positive impact is felt immediately because we get a free Governor Title for finding a Natural Wonder.

Techs: Astrology

 

[Minou]

T2: I moved the Settler to take advantage of the wonder. It would have been possible to settle on the river where the Settler spawned, but that would have meant either not working any of the juicy wonder tiles or not growing at all since they had no food. If the two northern desert tiles were only grassland....So, this start sacrifices fresh water though an aqueduct can eventually fix that. For now speed is everything and this start gets an incredible 7.2cpt and 14gpt immediately. First tech will be Mining for chops and to hook up the Silver for trade, and the first build will be a Monument - I don't care much about the culture but I want the SECOND build to be the best Hero available. Working the Tobacco tile also gives 1f, and with Code of Laws (and hence God King) in 3 turns there is an outside shot of hitting Religious Settlements.

 

[Minou]

T3: Original Warrior (OW) is moving north. We can kind of infer that we are near the southwest corner of the continent because I noted one coast tile there with the Settler lens and the rivers are flowing south and west. The Settler les is a great tool to search for borders. OW's job is to find City States ASAP because we want the free envoys and also because sending Amani to a CS with a free envoy provides a 100% chance of revealing a Hero (in addition to the 10% for each envoy). Finding a Natural Wonder or new continent also provides a 50% chance, and huts 15%.

 

[Minou]

T4: An amazing development. The hut contains a Relic! This gives us a really good shot at Religious Settlements. We could still lose out to one of the Civs that has an ability granting faith at the start or someone who got a relic even earlier, or an oddity like Rome joining Voidsingers T1 - but pretty much no normal source of faith like resources, City State envoys, God King, or Holy Sites will beat this.

Incidentally the relic is the Cincture of Theotokos. I had to look it up since I had no idea what it was. Apparently, the Virgin Mary made the belt from camel hair and gave it to the Apostle Thomas before her Assumption). A shot at Religious Settlements is most crucial, but the extra faith will also be great once we hit a Golden Age and Relics can also be sold for a ton of gold.

 

[Minou]

T5: Code of Laws complete thanks to the wonder. Slotting God King will shave one more turn off hitting 25f and the loss of a few hammers is more than worth it to up the odds of RS even 5%. Shuffle Mode comes up now - Craftsmanship and Foreign Trade are in the second column as usual, but Early Empire is also available and costs 50c instead of 70c. That will let us get it super fast, which is perfect as we will want a Settler after the Hero regardless of whether we hit RS and because this Civic provides another GT. One of the biggest impacts Shuffle Mode plays in my opinion is whether it puts Political Philosophy in the front of the Classical Era Civic stack or buries it - since it normally only requires 5 other civics as pre-reqs but could take ten or more with a bad "shuffle", this is one of the biggest random elements added by the special modes. Another thing about shuffle is that the locked techs and civics are all hidden, which can be a pain for planning - I have a copy of the normal tree loaded on my browser to plan out boosts, but not knowing which pre-reqs are going to be needed can make things dicy.

Civics: Code of Laws

 

[Minou]

T6: Another fantastic turn. Granada marches a Warrior into view, and we get a free envoy from them. The +1h for units will help when we build a Settler next and their ability is really great - we can plant an Alcazar right next to the wonder and add +2c/2s later. OW meets Mogadishu. They are a pretty bad CS overall, but the key thing is getting the free envoy and the +4g is nice.

One of those free envoys tripped the 10% chance of revealing a Hero and it is Arthur. I actually don't love Arthur because I find that his Questing Knights expire too quickly especially if they get damaged and need to heal - not having the ability to gain promotions and heal really hurts them. On the other hand, Arthur himself is very fast. Ultimately I think Himoko is the strongest first Hero but I also love Hercules and find Beowolf very strong for the opening war. Sinbad would be amazing too but I don't think he can revealed unless you have a coastal city. Anyway, we can now use the GT we have been holding onto to send Amani to Granada and reveal another Hero.

 

[Minou]

T7: A barbarian Scout wanders by. Apparently Barbarian Outposts spawn exactly 7 tiles away from cities near the start of the game, but its hard to tell if this Scout is from a camp that "belongs" to Mogadishu or another city in the fog.

 

[Minou]

T8: We hit 25f. But not Pantheon notification. This is nerve-wracking. I still have no idea what the algorithm is for awarding a Pantheon. Since the human player goes first if it was just first to reach 25f then the human should always "win" if only one player can get a Pantheon each turn. No idea what is up but I am kind of terrified of losing out on Religious Settlements despite hitting 25f at TURN 8.

 

[Minou]

T9: Religious Settlements! A huge book (and a huge relief). This boosts Mysticism as well. The free Settler will move south so that our second city can also work the wonder tiles.

We also meet Eleanor of France this turn, which completes Writing. Let's check her out. In terms of special abilities, pretty vanilla - we want to avoid AIs with strong defense like Vietnam and Aztecs and would love to find ones that produce pillagable special improvements or are genius with gold (e.g., Sweden pays a ton for Diplomatic Favor). Eleanor has not yet met any other AIs but that doesn't mean the continent is empty since it's only T9. She has 80g (and 20gpt) and 115 Combat Power. She is already at -8 relations with us too, so we may want to trade for that gold soon before she cuts us off.

We located our first barbarian tribe, the Grey Rat. They are selling Warriors for 95g. I would like clear the camp for the boost to Military Tradition, but it looks like Mogadishu is likely to do so first.

 

[Minou]

T10: The free Settler pops the goody hut that has been sitting near the capital since the start...

And scores just about the best possible outcome, gaining a Builder and an invitation to Voidsingers. Popping the hut with the Settler actually helps up the odds of a Builder, since apparently civilian units never get a "military" (Scout, XP, or strategic resources) reward from huts.

The Builder sets out towards the Silver - we don't have Mining yet but we do want to see what the local area looks like. Uh-oh - he walks right up to a Zombie and a Barbarian Scout. Now, Zombies won't take civilian units. Scouts can, but this one is probably still coded to search for targets and return to base. Fingers crossed.

Barbarian Clans mode comes into play as we can use some of the flood of gold from the wonder to buy a Warrior from the Grey Rat Clan. The Hired Warrior (HW) ends up finding another hut. What an opening....

Finally, taking full advantage of the AI being brain-dead, we can siphon 102g from Eleanor paying 9gpt. That would cost 270g over 30 turns, but we can just declare when ever we like to get the 9gpt back.

 

[Minou]

T11: Between turns, Mogadishu clears the outpost. Oh well. Apocalypse Mode also comes into play as a massive Habob Dust Storm blows in. It actually helps us a bit though, killing the Barbarian Scout and redlining the Zombie. It also fertilizes a wonder-boosted desert hill, adding 1f.

Amani arrives giving us control of the Granada This reveals Maui, in my opinion on of the weakest Heroes. However, shared vision also reveals the Fountain of Youth Natural Wonder which gives us a second 50% chance of revealing a Hero. We hit, and the hero is Hercules - fantastic news as he is the most crucial of all the Heroes. As much as I would like to builder some Alcazars, Amani heads over to Mogadishu to reveal another Hero and more of the map.

Shared Vision also reveals the Wind Dragon Clan which is selling Barbarian Horseman for 95g. This is a pretty good unit, weaker and slower than standard Horseman but a real bargain for less than the price of a Scout (and it eventually can upgrade to Cavalry). I buy one right away and use it to hit a Scout up the coast.

 

[Minou]

T12: Early Empire completed! This gives us another GT, which let's us hire Magnus to the Capital to help chop a Settler. We can also sell Open Borders for a nice 17g. Looking at the Shuffled Civic Tree, we can oddly go for Mysticism next even though Military Tradition appears before it in the tree.

More great luck this turn, our free Builder farms the Wheat to complete Irrigation and then the HW pops the next hut for ANOTHER Builder! That's just fantastic luck so far with huts - I swear I didn't reload to get this haul.

 

[Minou]

T13: Well, I need to admit to the first mistake of the game - I ended last turn without swapping Civics. I would rather be in Urban Planning than God King and while it's only going to result in 8 lost hammers every move counts in a speed run and this means Hercules is going to arrive a turn later, which means we get a Preserve a turn later, Hercules can participate in the first war a turn later, etc. But, no re-loading is the rule.

Aaaaaand I manage to make another mistake before the end of the turn. I spent 55g to buy the hill SW of the spot marked for the Preserve, intended to place it there before founding my second city - this trick allows you to build a Preserve directly adjacent to a city center and score the bonus food, culture and faith as a base yield. However, Mysticism is of course not complete yet so I basically flushed that gold down the toilet.

Regardless, this is one of the best starts I have ever had as the Settler plants Mount Minou close to the captial. It also lacks fresh water but that's OK because we are planning a Preserve as soon as Hercules pops. For now, the city can get started working the closest wonder tile for another 2c and 3g.

Next, I hire Magnus with the GT from Early Empire. I had held off a turn to decide if Voidsingers was better but I think we will want to chop a Settler so Magnus it is.

Original Warrior meets another Barbarian Clan, the Grey Rate (selling Warriors for 95g).

A Builder hooks up Tobacco and we are in luck - Eleanor will pay 33g + 13gpt for it!

 

[Minou]

T14: Between turns, we are Denounced by England. Good thing we sold the Tobacco last turn... They are too far north to be a threat for now and in fact have a big target on their backs.

The Monument completes, pushing culture up to 11.3cpt. Now we can start Devotion to Hercules!

First Zombie encounter as one hits the Hired Warrior. I would rather be exploring than fighting, but the silver lining of Zombies is that they help speed up Bronze Working.

Before ending the turn, Minou City swaps a citizen onto the Wheat to grow to 2 pop net turn (that's why Mysticism is still 4 turns away, but this will drop when this citizen and the new citizen swap onto wonder tiles).

 

[Minou]

T15: The capital hits 2 pop and we are up to 13.6cpt. The tiny increase in science also shaves 2 turns off mining.

Since England denounced us, I’ll go ahead and declare to steal that Builder shown in the previous post. This also gets us back the 12gpt but causes us to lose the 13gpt from Tobacco, for a net loss of 1gpt.

The Hired Warrior proves the value of Barbarian Clans by meeting Hong Kong, They are a great City State, helpful especially in the end game for Space Projects. We are not the first to meet them but neither was England, which is good news - at least one other AI on the starting continent to conquer. I was starting to get worried about that.... Their quest is to train an Archer, a nice easy one.

We also find another hut. I am not sure about popping this one - one of the things I like to do with Babylon is leave a bunch of hits til near the end of the game and roll the dice for a lucky late game tech boost.

Meeting Hong Kong boosts Political Philosophy, revealing it on the Shuffle civic tree. It is in a sightly worse position than the standard tree, requiring 1 (instead of 0) Classical pre-reqs. I have seen much worse though. Currently, PP is 34 turns away (T49), but this can be shaved down as we grow and add more wonder tiles and as we hit inspirations - SWF should be easy and Military Tradition possible as well. However, Military Training is the only boostable possibility for the unrevealed pre-requisite (Hercules can handle it) - all of the others will take too much time.

 

[Minou]

T16: Amani Arrives at Mogadishu. But, it cost 240g to levy their troops and I only have 164g. REALLY regretting that mistaken spend of 55g for the Preserve tile. We discover a new hero, Mulan and another hut. I'd like to reveal Sinbad for our second Hero. However, I don't think he is ever revealed if you do not yet have a coastal city.

Sinbad is one of the very best early Heroes as scoring 1000+ gold in a few turns can be incredible in the early game and also because Sinbad is the fastest way to the second continent (unless there is a rare shallow water path) - rather than messing around trying to build two Harbors, we can just meet a CS, levy them and once we take one city were can use Sinbad gold to buy units for war.

Original Warrior also finds a new continent for the Foreign Trade inspiration but we miss on the 50% chance of another Hero.

Monitoring the ribbon, I see Eleanor is down to 88CP - must be losing units to barbarians or natural disasters.

Here is the Builder that Original Warrior swiped last turn - you can also see the new continent.

Mogadishu shares their knowledge of the map, revealing another hut and more Zombies.

 

[Minou]

T17: Mysticism complete, providing an envoy which we will stash for now. Hired Warrior meets Venice (Archery quest). Not a great City State by any means. We can swap in Colonization as the next orders or business are to get a city planted on the coast and get enough gold to levy Mogadishu.

What is odd is that Venice has a Suzerain but we don't make contact with them - I thought the shared vision should trigger a meeting? Maybe it will happen between turns...

 

[Minou]

T18: Between turns, Eleanor hits Original Warrior with one of their Warriors - I don't think it is possible to escort this Builder home, but am hoping to slide east and keep exploring for now and eventually employ the Builder in a captured city. Eleanor is now at 92CP, indicating one unit healing but no new units or losses. She also has a Settler out - fingers crossed it moves south, right into our army!

Mogadishu did lose a unit though, which is good for us as it means the levy cost drops to 200g and we can levy 5 Warriors now.This also boosts Mercenaries.

The big development this turn is that Hercules arrives! The capital starts a Settler next.

The best Hero is here! It will take him 3 turns to plant the Preserve, but thats OK since we need gold to buy the tile first anyway.

The Barbarian HM and levied Warriors have cornered one English Warrior. Good use of time and source of XP while we was for Hercules to rush up to the front.

 

[Minou]

T19: Eleanor moves settler back south again... meanwhile Hired Warrior and the stolen Builder stumble into the Bear Tree Clan, which has a Slinger nearby - this isn't great as we now risk getting caught between the barbarians and the French Warrior. Their CP is down to 81 suggesting a loss in the fog.

Down south, a Levied Warrior takes out one French Warrior, gaining a promotion.

The other two Levied Warriors will attempt to clear a barbarian camp to boost Military Tradition and Bronze Working.

Bad luck here - we will take a hit from the Slinger next turn and probably another if we try and run east (unless perhaps the Slinger stays to guard the camp. If there are any English units, Barbarians, or Zombies in the fog to the east we are probably losing the Warrior and Builder...

No escape for the French Warrior!

 

[Minou]

T20: Mining complete - always surprises me when I play Babylon and hit the first researched tech so late. One of the Builders can now hook up the Silver, which complete Wheel and boosts Craftsmanship. No one to sell it to since we are at war, but it does get the capital to Happy for a slight product and growth boost. Boosting Craftsmanship lowers the arrival time of PP to T46.

Up in the north, the barb Slinger does some minor danger to our Levied Warrior and the French Settler appears out of the fog - now heading east.

But there is one huge setback. Mining opens the door to chopping forests, timed perfectly with Hercules arriving at the Preserve tile. But, the price of the tile went up from 55 to 60g delaying the district another turn. I think this is because Mining completed?

In retrospect, I think I should have just delayed settling the second city until Mysticism completed, that would have let Hercules get the Sanctuary up a turn early (and thus get up to attack France a turn early as well), safe the 60g I just had to spend, and boost Mount Minou's base yields directly which would make up for the delay pretty quickly thanks to faster growth.

Good luck here. I can move the highlighted Warrior south and then use the other one to kill the Scout, which will keep Granada from sniping us on clearing the Outpost.


Turn 20 stats are great - 2 cities with 2spt, 15cpt, 5.5fpt and 25gpt, 2 Governors, 4 envoys
The army is extremely strong too - Hercules, 1 Barbarian Horseman, and 7 Warriors (5 levied)