So here's my writeup for the game I just finished before trying out the new DLL
. Byzantium, Epic speed, Continents plus, Events mod, Emperor. Tech trading on, research agreements off. This is the first game I've won on this beta and it felt really good!
Had an interesting start this time. Perfume monopoly, which I've been looking for an opportunity to try as Bite was skeptical of it's value. Also a coastal start and a non-river start! However, I also had some lapis lazuli, some forest with deer in it, and some stone which was fun. And more importantly I had lots of room to expand and a peaceable non-founder adjacent to me - The Netherlands! Early game went more or less as usual - slow start with my practised Springtime and Temple of Artemis. I caught up as I expanded and my religion came online
. Founded late, but quickly enhanced and reformed with the help of my UA and Basilicas! I was also able to build my favourites Angkor Wat and Forbidden Palace, aided by the culture from Perfume and the science from my second pantheon Renewal. My biggest rival so far was Spain, so I joined Korea in an early medieval war against them when they attempted to invade Ethiopia.
Mid-game was interesting because when I unlocked explorers and started meeting the rest of the world (on the second continent) I realised that I suddenly had strong competition there! I had guessed there might be one powerful civ based on the wonders that I couldn't account for among the civs that I knew, but I wasn't expecting three! I met Brazil, Venice, and Egpyt all at the same time when Brazil founded the World Congress. Egypt was leading the pack in tech and religion, and Venice had claimed the most world wonders! I managed to push for a lead over those three though as Way of Transcendance started to repay me for my religious popularity, grabbing some key wonders - Sistene Chapel, Porcelain Tower, and Himeji Castle! I also settled a few more cities, although in hindsight I think I should have settled one less so that each of them was a little further apart. I was also able to use my good diplomatic relations to be voted to host the Congress from then onwards!
In a leading position I was keen to see how the AI performed as the game advanced and I wasn't dissapointed. Venice continued their aggression against Greece and claimed nearby city-states as well. Brazil's UU gave them a big boost and they took the lead in tech and wonders for a time, jumping ahead of everyone. Egpyt continued to be a strong performer in the long term though, and dominated the continent religiously - eroding Brazil's faith and eventually taking back the lead in techs and policies (although Brazil still had the most wonders). Meanwhile on my own continent Spain's UU and UB gave them a boost and they presented a threat as well. On the other hand, I found that I was sharing a smallish ocean with Korea and Portugal, who were both friends of mine, and some lovely city-states which I was able to control!
I had expanded peacefully as far as I could without , but I wanted a bit more. When Steam Power unlocked and I realised I might be short on late-game strategics I looked for opportunities to claim more in order to stay competitive with the front-runners. At this point though, most civs had multiple defensive pacts and I had little chance against any of them on my own. So I promptly denounced Brazil and Egypt and happily my friends were happy to join me! Soon enough, they were generally unpopular and their defensive alliances started to fall apart. They also hated me lol, and I had been able to secure defensive pacts with Portugal, Korea and Ethiopia! It was perfect luck that one of those was attacked in a joint war by one of the major powers and my smaller neighbour The Netherlands. It as quite a fight as the Netherlands had a formidable navy, but I managed to claim two of their cities (eventually razing both and resettling one myself for happiness reasons). I also placed some choice encampments and was able to work the Netherlands UU - Polders - in two of my cities!
Egypt and Brazil were still in strong positions though, and it seemed warfare was probably the only option. Egypt was far ahead in tech and waging war on their neighbours the Inca. However, at this point I already had Scientific Theory and embarked on a vigorous enlightenment of pretty much everyone who wasn't a direct threat to me. I bolstered the failing Greece in their ongoing conflict against Venice, the Inca, the land-locked Assyria, and my allies Ethiopia (facing off against Spain). As the late-game came into play and the friendships and defensive pacts became more selective the world soon descended into an all-out war! I had the opportunity to first take pot shots against Brazil and then help Venice capture an isolated island city belonging to Egypt. Then the war turned the home front as Spain declared war on me and the rest of the our continent! So as Brazil and I made peace, my navy changed directions and helped both Korea and Ethiopia defend themselves from the larger Spain, liberating and Ethiopian city.
To help me do so, I also shared much of my technology with allies Korea and Portugal against the Spanish. This was a delicate balance because I was still at war with Egypt for economic and diplomatic reasons (they had nuked and captured two Incan cities) but had no forces to spare on that front. I knew I could be at war with Korea and Portugal one day myself despite out current alliance and the Netherlands still had a grudge against me from the cities I stole. In the end I had to agree to Egypts offer of peace because my happiness was at 40% from war weariness and threatening to go lower. As I did this, Portugal made peace with Spain and declared war on me instead! Happily I still had a defensive pact with Korea and so they took the brunt of the Portugese assault, loosing a city in spite of their tech advantage. Eventually Spain backed off from my allies so I made peace with them and brought my now experienced navy back to my own waters post-haste! My forces arrived a little battered as Korea's next coastal city was under full siege and a fury of blood and iron ensued as Portugal and I traded ironclads and cruisers. Happily I was able to buy Korea the peace they needed to rally their own navy and recapture their lost city, then push back against the Portugese city-state holding the channel between them.
Meanwhile the march of time rolled on. I managed to build Brandenburg Gate even though Brazil was going to complete it well before me because they decided to go for the Empire State Building instead 3 turns from completion. I also grabbed the Louvre because Brazil, Egypt and Venice had gone either Statecraft or Fealty rather than Artistry. Flight was invented and bombers and triplaces had come into play in the ongoing war against Portugal. Ethiopia and Korea both returned my earlier generosity by gifting me techs they had researched ahead of me. Then Ideologies were adopted and Brazil and I went for Freedom while Egypt and Venice went Communism, splitting the world more or less evenly in two. Company Headquarters were established, and I just beat out Brazil (with Brazilwood) to found the military-focused corporation Hexxon Refineries! They went on to found Trader Sid's anyway with their Sugar monopoly, but I was very keen to see how Hexxon fared in light of criticism it has recieved.
Turns out it was pretty good! I didn't build a lot of company offices to start with because I didn't understand how they worked properly but soon noticed the every office granted me strategic resources! 5 coal and oil each at full potential, which is nothing to scoff at. Soon I had a strategic monopoly on coal, and then oil, and then a global monopoly on coal! I was still strapped for iron unfortunately, but in the late stages of my war against Portugal I had lots of coal for Seaport and Factories, oil for planes and tanks, and a production bonus on units. I also had a very significant general production bonus in my capital, because it had 12 or so external trade routes each granting +10% when they connected to cities with my franchise in it
. Finally, my resource monopolies granted me +2 xp on combat and +1 movement on naval units! Needless to say, I fared well and soon made peace with Portugal.
Which gets us to the end-game, when I realised that in spite of my military success and being sanctioned Egpyt was still well ahead of me and the rest of the world by at least 5 techs. So I focused my religiosity and chain faith-purchased great scientists and writers for instant yields! I also adopted Rationalism earlier, so my capital city kept producing great scientists in spite of having passed an Arts agreement earlier. Having used all my great people up to that point to build tile improvements and great works, as well as having excavated many artifacts and themed the Louvre, my national wonders, and the Sistene Chapel, my instant yields were very nice and soon I shot ahead in techs and policies. I built the Apollo Program first, then the Sydney Opera House, CERN and finally the International Space Station!
At this point the world realised what was happening and sanctioned me which I figured I could deal with. I had started building space ship parts already! What I didn't account for was that in being sanctioned all of my franchises were removed and suddenly I was at a deficit of about 25 coal and 15 oil so instead of gaining 250 gpt I was loosing 500 gpt instead. I switched my 4 best cities to building space ship factories and then space ship parts, while everything else was focused on generating income to keep my economy afloat! Thankfully this was a peaceable time in the world for me, given my resource malus and happiness just over 50%. My biggest thread, Egypt decided to change targets and declare war on Brazil instead! Spies were coming from all over the world to try to steal from me, but with Bletchly Park and a National Intelligence Agency this was actually a boon, netting me enough gold from killing spies every turn or so to start upgrading my now-outdated army!
I was happily able to repeal my sanction in the world congress, and in short order completed the final pieces of the spaceship - securing my science victory! At the end of the game, Egpyt was in second place tech-wise and had dominated their continent religiously. Brazil was in second place in terms of wonders built, Spain had the strongest miltary in the world, and Venice controlled the most territory! I think I was lucky not to have to fight a war against anyone (particularly Spain) while my sanction was active.
Some notes on balance - I like the resource balance with units a lot at the moment! The only thing I would change is swap one of the iron or aluminium dependancies for oil - for example the Carrier. I had about 20 oil that I was doing nothing with (without the surplus from my corporation which got me closer to 60) because late-game air units and tanks switch from oil dependancy to aluminium and uranium (for GDRs) dependancy instead. I suppose I could have fielded a lot more air units (I only had 6), but I did have ten or so tanks/modern armour units. In hindsight I probably should have sold some of my battleships to free up some iron so that I could have built more wind and hydro power plants, and then built missile cruisers or nuclear subs to replace them.
In other regards, I like the new pastures and villages a lot. I also like the new Renewal, although I think Tutelary Gods could maybe use a slight nerf. I enjoyed the buffs to Freedom policies, although tbh I never used Draft Registration at all - my gold was always spent upgrading existing units rather than purchasing new ones. I like the new air unit promotions, I got good use out of fighters and air sweeps for the first time in this game. I liked the carrier CS upgrade a lot - I actually got good use out of my carrier without it getting sunk. It's ranged attack is kinda hilariously poor, but that's not what I built it for anyway XD. City CS values were a bit on the high end overall - maybe nudge the strength of the Arsenal down for example. City-states on the other hand keep getting conquered in the late-game; the size of their military just doesn't scale over time the way that major civs do. Only about 8 of 24 were left by the end of this game, although Venice is part of the reason for that. Finally, I like where archers are at in this patch - it feels good!
