Nobles' Club 389: Hatshepsut of Egypt

[Build2Much]

I finally got around to starting this one (immortal) and I’m at t81(850BC). I don’t want to steal the thread from @Leason but I have a quick question on “best practices” at this point.

Spoiler :

SIP, settled Memphis 3E,2S on the river. Built War Chariots, killed Korea, took 3 cities (auto razed 4th). Just took a Barb city to block off Zara. 6 total cities.
Teched AH>Mining>Pottery>BW>Writing>Math>Mysticism
Traded Math for Alphabet (partial tech) and IW - 2 different trades. I am 3 or 4 turns from Currency, plenty of commerce.

1. I have a settler coming out. Plan to settle stone and go for Mids in Thebes with lots of chops. Only happiness available is Elephants if i tech hunting. Sound reasonable?
2. Seoul is a holy city. I’m going to push out a prophet there. Would I be taking a very unnecessary chance converting to Hinduism? Others are either in Judaism or Confucianism.

 

[Leason]

No prob at all, glad someone else playing this one and I'll probably replay the opener again just for fun.

Spoiler :

I had intended settle 4W 2N to pick up stone and do Mids myself. This city will also help block Zara. Yes, ivory is it. There is sugar with the stone and I think dye near that 4th Korean city.

In my previous loss, religion was a problem on this map. I found it far more peaceful with Free Religion. However, I did not rush Korea that game so it is all new.

 

[a pen-dragon]

Can you pillage your own land or does it have to be "uncultured" or enemy?

You do not receive gold for pillaging your own land, but you can.

Then if I get the Mids I'll go Police State & Theo for Phants/Cuirs on my next neighbor depending on the time frame.

If you go for cuirs, you would do better by converting to econ civics, to get the techs at an earlier date and convert to war civics only when actually starting to build units.

@Build2Much

Spoiler :

I have a settler coming out. Plan to settle stone and go for Mids in Thebes with lots of chops. Only happiness available is Elephants if i tech hunting. Sound reasonable?

T81 already. So if things go well, that would be ~T100 mids. That is on the late side, do not be surprised if you do not get them. Failgold from stone+chops would probably be worth it in this case.

Seoul is a holy city. I’m going to push out a prophet there.

I do not think getting a shrine is worth it. Granted, a 20 shrine would be, but for this you would have to work at spreading your religion. Basically, you need 1 GP, 1 monastery, and missionaries. If we compare against building wealth, a missionary pays back in 40 turns, or 32 turns with a market in the shrine city. That is roughly comparable to a courthouse, neglecting the monastery and great prophet. The great prophet comes at a cost of another great person, lets say a scientist. That adds philo as a loss.

Would I be taking a very unnecessary chance converting to Hinduism? Others are either in Judaism or Confucianism.

They will probably convert you, so all things equal you should adopt one of their religions to build up a greater relation boost. Since you are SPI you could adopt the most spread religion, and only convert to another one when you desperately need the relations (beg to stop plotting, key techs).

 

[sampsa]

I do not think getting a shrine is worth it. Granted, a 20 shrine would be, but for this you would have to work at spreading your religion. Basically, you need 1 GP, 1 monastery, and missionaries. If we compare against building wealth, a missionary pays back in 40 turns, or 32 turns with a market in the shrine city. That is roughly comparable to a courthouse, neglecting the monastery and great prophet. The great prophet comes at a cost of another great person, lets say a scientist. That adds philo as a loss.

I'm not sure even a 20pt-shrine is worth a in general, unless super early. It just pays back way too slow. Comparing it to an instant 1300 (GM mission) seems fair. Immediate gains snowball and thus 1300 is imo a lot stronger than 20pt.

 

[Build2Much]

I did eventually finish this today…but I abandoned my first attempt because the experts and my gut were right - going rogue on religion was a terrible idea (I’m not good enough to do it on this type of map). 1840AD Culture (which was my goal win condition)

Spoiler :

first attempt went fine for a while and I probably could have won if I had gone pure production, but I wound up getting attacked on both fronts and there was no way I could have done a peaceful culture victory.

Rebooted from the beginning and tried to do the same start, but this time waited until I saw the dominant religion, which was what Monty was in. Took that, protected myself enough to not get attacked, Monty wound up in a forever war with Zara through my territory. I wound up with 5 of the religions and took the Sistine/temple/Cathedral route to victory boosted by Creative Constructions. Beat HC to the culture win by 15 turns

I will probably play this again some time, but go for conquest/domination which should definitely be there. Thanks for the game!