Nobles' Club 239: Montezuma of the Aztecs

[dankok8]

To turn 113 (50 BC).

Spoiler :

A bit slow but things are going according to plan. Next turn I'm probably popping a GS (maybe GE) that's gonna bulb Philosophy and definitely getting a GA from Music which will culture bomb my 3rd city. A lot of my culture buildings should start generating double culture due to age. If I pop a GE, I'm gonna rush a wonder maybe Sistine or something else. Sistine Chapel is a really nice wonder for a cultural victory and that's an understatement. I have a few Walls and Jags, enough that I feel safe from attack. Sitting Bull is still Cautious and hasn't demanded anything but isn't plotting so hopefully it will stay like that. I was right there with Jags to grab a barb city or two but the AI won the final battles at low odds. Oh well. My culture will eventually start seriously crowding my buddy Suleiman.

 

[dankok8]

To turn 140 (600 AD)

Spoiler :

2 turns from Liberalism. Will be 640 AD same as the Izzy game!

Anyways all 3 cities are close to influential culture and I'm still busy finishing up Temples and Pagodas and stuff. Ragnar and Napoleon both declared on Sitting Bull but as always he's tough as hell and holding them back. I gave in to demands from both Bull and Napoleon even though I made a trade for Feudalism and with Walls I feel I can defend if I get attacked for now.

Things are close to how I planned but I could obviously be more efficient. I almost never go for culture so I don't know the little things to be fast.

I do have a healthy tech lead:

Spoiler Question :

After I hit Liberalism and switch to Free Speech, should I turn up the Culture slider to 100% or it too early/too risky? I'm thinking to do it.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

@dankok8

I am not sure.

Spoiler :

The most common strategy is to crank the slider up as soon as liberalism is done. But looking through your updates, it doesn't seem like you setup the game with cultural strategy in mind. At least not in the way I believe a cultural game "should" be won. So I don't think I can contribute.

 

[AcaMetis]

Spoiler :

Ideally you should start running the culture slider as soon as you've finished Lib, since every cultural wonder/building/etc. past that point is too deep in the tech tree to make it worth going after. If your diplomacy situation is not secured, however, I would advise one last research detour to pick up Rifles to defend, or maybe Cannons to weaken incoming stacks, just something that will keep you safe in case of attack.

 

[dankok8]

@sylvanllewelyn

Spoiler :

What do you mean by didn't set up with cultural victory in mind? Can you elaborate?

Anyways I played on a bit past 1000 AD.

Spoiler :

Sitting Bull is a major target of aggression but he's holding which is great. My buddies Sully and Willy declared on Sury. Only Ragnar is waiting and he'll probably go after Sitting Bull and Justinian is busy teching and staying out of wars for now.

My culture is getting very strong and I'll be flipping some cities soon. About 100 turns from victory maybe less if I can pop more GA's...

 

[dankok8]

1800 AD Cultural Victory. All three cities turned legendary on the same turn.

Psycho Monty a man of culture. Who woulda thought it? I wrote a quick recap.

Spoiler :

It was quite dramatic!

Ragnar invaded me with a pretty scary 30-40 unit stack in 1260 AD considering I had very little as far as units. Berserkers, X-Bows, Pikes, and Catapults. The turn before I had just accepted Justinian's demand to switch to Theocracy so I couldn't switch to Slavery and Nationhood to whip or draft for 4 more turns. Luckily my borders were huge so he took time to walk to Teotihuacan (one of three legendary cities) and I didn't listen to people on here and prebuilt Walls and Castles.. Anyways while he bombarded them I did switch to the right civics and drafted a whole bunch of Musketman plus whipped a few Longbows. His stack attacked and perished after which he agreed to a peace treaty and gave me a border city back that he captured after I flipped it from Sully before. Ended up gifting it to Sully after then it almost flipped to me again!

Anyways I decided to make friends with Sully, Willem and Justinian who all did well in tech. Sury was really dangerous but he couldn't get to me because Willem wouldn't open borders. Napoleon the headcase kept suiciding against Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull was the one guy who could attack me but I could probably fight him off if he attacked. He was actually behind me in tech till the very end and the pariah of the world so I couldn't afford to appease him all the time. Anyways Justinian eventually smacked him with Tanks and Paratroopers. I slowly limped to Rifling with my other cities running a Scientist or two but without ever being allowed to pop one. It gave me 200 beakers a turn at one point without using the slider which was decent.

A world war of all sorts erupted near the end but I was peaceful building culture. As an Aztec no less.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

@dankok8

You must be good at math. "All three cities turned legendary on the same turn." is important and not easy to accomplish. Aztecs are spiritual and their Sacrificial Altar is good for stacking infrastructure. So cultural victory is not out of the question.

Spoiler :

You had muskets. The Vikings brought a knife to a gunfight. What kind of AI script is that?

 

[dankok8]

@sylvanllewelyn

Spoiler :

Not really so much math. I used GA's to bomb the slowest cities and gave more +50% culture religious buildings to the slower cities. Tlateloco would be the slowest because the city had less food so it needed more culture from Hermitage because it wouldn't get as much from the slider cuz less commerce. I also ran more Artist specialists in the slower cities to help pop GA's but also to produce culture. With Sistine and all the other multiplier those Artists were generating serious culture. I don't think I built a single Altar in this one. Happiness wasn't a problem with the culture slider on even after +15 unhappy from drafting!

Yea I had Gunpowder. I turned of the slider at Liberalism but like I said used some Scientists in other cities to limp to Gunpowder and then later Rifling which was needed because the diplo situation was messed up. Couldn't keep everyone appeased.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

@dankok8

Spoiler :

How many Great Artists did you produce in the end? I thought the Hermitage should go to the city with the HIGHEST base culture. But what do I know, maybe I should try it myself next time.

 

[dankok8]

@sylvanllewelyn

Spoiler :

I tried to distribute the Hermitage + Cathedrals in cities so as to accelerate all cities to the same rate so they finish together. Hermitage was one of my last major builds so I put it in the weakest city to prop it up. I popped 6 GA's which I know isn't that many. Hermitage has the biggest effect in the city with highest base culture but that would have accelerated that city way past the others which is suboptimal from what I understand.