Standard Immortal Spain on Communitas_79a. DV on Turn 391.
Interesting start on this one. I was on a small island surrounded by other islands, while everyone else was on full continents, so made for an interesting play. I was surrounded by a lot of CS early on, so made a lot of early alliances to compensate for my scattered terrain. Used the conquistador to expand into that far eastern continent and then warred on the Incan to the south, wiping them out and securing a ring of puppets.
The celts and I would war on occasion, and I did a big amphibious invasion to liberate Valleta for the quest. Egypt became a voluntary vassal, which actually did make sense this game, as he had only 3 cities left, was surrounded by major players, and still asked for a ton of gold...so while the other voluntaries were too easy this one felt right.
Endgame was about Poland. Poland went culture like a mad man, and was basically 6 policies ahead of the pack in the late game, but then started surging in science as well. I did one big southern amphibious push combined with Egypt but was repelled by superior tech and a lack of oil, so I was getting worried there.
However, the good news was Poland's tech unlocked the final DV resolutions, and though I only had 3 CS allies....with 5 embassies, Westminster, and 5 votes from holy land I was most of the way to Hegemony already. I purchased 6 votes from my vassal (at too cheap a price), and got to hegemony, just as Poland was unveiling some of the end game techs.
My notes:
1) On Spain: The new UA works fine, giving you some gold and giving you an "effective discount" when you buy plots. I found that the UA still helps you bag a pantheon pretty early, but doesn't have strong legs, and so you still have to work on your faith to ensure a religion....its not automatic like it was previously. And while the free inquisitors help, even Spain cannot compete with the might of Orthodoxy without inquisitor maintenance. The gold bonus long term is alright but you are not going to be racking in cash like other money civs like Portugal for example.
For the Hacienda I really wish it had its actual yields by type in the tooltips, 3 Spain games and I still couldn't tell you how much I get for putting a hacienda near a horse and a cow, or a fish and coral, etc.
Ultimately I think Spain has been toned down a lot from the old days when it was commonly seen as one of the top civs. Its still good, its still interesting, but no longer dominant like it once was. So its good changes all around.
2) Having gotten DV several times in this version, I feel very comfortable reiterating I think the hegemony vote count is just fine even with the vassal change. I also still think hegemony votes should be more expensive from your vassals.
3) I mentioned my happiness issues earlier. I managed to finally break 50 for a little bit but then went right back, and though I flirted at 36 occasionally, ultimately I was able to keep the bad happiness in check. Ultimately while I'm still a bit confused on why happiness was so much harder this game than probably the last 10 I've played....it was still manageable. I never got into the spiral.
4) I did build a number of Special Forces towards the end as I was planning a retry on that amphibious Poland assault (before I realized I could make a DV play). The cheaper cost was felt, I'll need more games to see if building SFs is now a competitive option
