Finished up a sweet game that was a ton of fun. Playing Inca. Didn't take pictures (I could go back to a couple of saves and take a few pics) but hoping this write-up is appreciated.
I had an excellent hilly/mountainous start so I settled cities in mountain ranges to block off my neighbors. I also had a Natural Wonder (Lake Victoria) so needless to say I went Goddess of Nature and founded the first religion, picking up Way of Transcendence/Veneration. I had a lot of space so I went Progress and turtled up early game. The impact of happiness was pretty marginal at this point, I was able to float above 60% for much of the early game. I focused on infrastructure, going for Masonry for Terrace Farms and getting Barracks/Arena/Water Mills (Barracks/Arena feel more definitive for happiness now) along the way. I had very minimal military production (like 3-4 Slingers, parked up in mountains), I had to build all but 1 in my capital because other cities suffered penalties to military production. I had two luxuries (Lapis Lazuli and Coral). I basically turtled up completely in the early game, settling 8 cities (very defensible position, the few entry points to my position at the top of the continent were blocked off by mountain range cities). After Barracks/Arena/Water Mill, I focused on Markets and Libraries-I delayed Forges in most of my cities because I wasn't working Mines, I was working Terrace Farms.
The Incan ability to get Science from Mountains is pretty bonkers and helps all-game, even when they're just 1
/1
they're very useful still.
I was able to spread my Religion really quickly to my neighbour the Iroquois and CS'es so I was able to reform in Classical. I picked Faith of the Masses, because at the time, my Science was strong due to Progress + Mountains etc. but my Culture was pitifully weak. I was also in a position where I could rush buy multiple Amphitheatres quickly after Drama/Poetry due to WoT. Also, I had 3 Lapis Lazuli, which is buffed by Amphitheatres, so that's nice).
I had a lot of Faith and was spending on a lot of things so Veneration was fairly strong, though it waned off mid to late-game of course.
Way of Transcendence is a really great all-around belief-it gave me multiple well-timed Golden Ages, allowed me to jetpack towards Macchu Picchu (my Holy city was not my Capital, but rather a mountain city with 10 adjacent mountains, so...) and then tech towards Hagia Sophia (I wanted to spread enough to reform and then use the Faith to rush buy Amphis, so Hagia Sophia's quick enhance was very welcome. I then kept teching towards Education/Civil Service.
There were multiple things I wanted here. I realized that in a defensible position with a lot of economic power and 7 City-States on our Continent with 2 competitors that Statecraft had a lot of potential here. I already had a lot of Food/Science and was not fighting (no reason to go for Castles/Armories) and didn't need defensive benefits so Fealty was not very useful. Artistry I ruled out because I didn't feel like a Cultural Victory was a good option here (I was right, because Arabia was on the other continent). I felt like allying 6 nearby City-States and going for Chanceries was the best option by far, so I went Statecraft, and never regretted it. Also, Statecraft allowed me to secure a Lapis Lazuli monopoly eventually via City-State alliances and gave me valuable missing Strategics (like Coal). I ended up using dozens of diplomatic units.
So teching towards Education/Civil Service gave me Chanceries, Envoys, Forbidden Palace, Universities, Oxford, and Terrace Farm benefits, all of which were very useful. I also established all my Guilds during this time. I built some more Slingers (and upgraded the ones I had), eventually stopping at 11 Slingers. I had war declared on me by Germany-it was easy to repel him, but I couldn't push so we eventually just peaced out.
I enhanced my Religion, going for Synagogues and Dioceses. I know Dioceses is not a popular belief, but I feel like it was a really good choice-I ended up spreading my Religion a lot, so all that Gold/Golden Age points (I got Chichen Itza and eventually a Lapis Lazuli monopoly and WoT gives GA points so Golden Age benefits were actually very useful...another reason not to bother going Artistry, because I was enjoying enough Golden Ages without it).
I mismanaged the Production bonus from WoT (not realizing how overflow worked...if you build something cheap, the max overflow you can get is the cost of that thing, so I wasted my Production bonus by accident and ended up having to built CI in my Capital).
, it's +1
Citizens.
. I assume it was a reaction of some sort?
