One City Challenge - Byzantium Diplomacy Guide

[Merenptah]

This guide describes specifically how to effectively use Religion as Byzantium in order to achieve an OCC Diplomatic Victory. The core idea is to spread religion quickly as far as possible in order to both get the favour of City-States as well as to increase gold income via Tithe and which can be used to buy the favour of even more City-States. For a more generic OCC strategy guide please see OCC - Emperor Freedom Strategy Guide.

Setup: Byzantium, Emperor Level, Pangea Plus, Standard Size (8 Civs, 16 City-States), Standard Pace (500 Turns), Strategic Balance (ensures Iron and Horses nearby), No Barbs/Ruins, OCC ticked

Part I - Walkthrough

Starting Location

By far the most important criteria is having your city placed next to a mountain so you can build the Observatory which gives +50% Science output. This is important because a Diplomatic Victory is in a sense like a mini Science Victory, because you need to research Globalization in order to unlock to United Nations which you will need to build in order to win. Generally I also make sure that the city is coastal; this will allow for easier exploration using a Caravel, so that you can reach all those City-States you want to convert and befriend. In addition, these two features together will give you a great tactical advantage: you will be protected from one side by the mountain, while at the same time being able to use Frigates/Battleships to snipe land units approaching your city.

In terms of other features, I found desert to be very helpful, in fact more so than having your city next to a river. The important assumption is that you will be able to build Petra: this will result in each Desert tile yielding +1 Food/Gold/Hammer, in addition to giving free a Amphitheatre. If you time it right, i.e. you finish Petra before Drama and Poetry, will then result in a free Opera House from the Legalism Social Policy. Another important implication of having a city near or next to a desert is the ability during the late game to build the Solar Plant which does not require any resources to build (unlike the Nuclear Plant which it replaces); not to mention that the prerequisite Tech (Ecology) will be on your path towards Globalization and allow for a faster build of the United Nations.

Phase 1: Genesis

In the initial phase you have two very distinct goals. The first goal is very specific to OCC, in the sense that you will need a high growth city with a large Food supply with some basic but effective defences. The second goal is specific and essential to this strategy in particular and it centers around setting up a religion in a very particular way so that you can smoothly sail towards your goal of Diplomatic Victory.
Typically you will build a Monument while researching Pottery, and then build a Shrine as soon as that is complete. You should not delay building it, because the cost of Pantheons/Religions goes up with each Pantheon/Religion being founded. In fact even if you build it first thing, you will not get first choice on Pantheon beliefs (which would occur at 10 Faith), and will probably have to wait until you accumulate at least 25 Faith to pick your choice.

After building the Shrine you should focus on growth and food, and build your Granary, Temple of Artemis, a Worker, as well as the Hanging Gardens.
Also, you will need to found a religion for some additional unique Growth and Productivity benefits. Since your choices will be reduced once other Civs have founded their pantheons/religions, it is paramount that you build the Shrine as soon as possible and then research Theology before Civil Service so you can build the Hagia Sofia and be one of the first Civs to found a religion. After that you shold build the Grand Temple to enhance your religion quickly and get additional unique benefits. Specifically, the magic trinity of Beliefs you must get are: Tithe (4g/follower), Itinerant Preachers (religion spreads 30% further), and Religious texts (+68% conversion strength on nearby cities once you researched Printing Press).

In addition you need to make sure you will enough Gold so that you can buy the University @660g as well as the Observatory @780g as soon as they become available; to achieve this you should work your Lux as soon as possible and sell these.

Phase 2: Making Friends

Once you build the Observatory you should crunch out your first Caravel to start exploring the seas and meet all those City-Sates that will become your allies sooner or later. At the same time set your religion to auto-purchase Missionaries and send them to those far away City-States that do not have adopted your religion yet.

Next you should focus on your gold generation. Build the Market and National Treasure, and even the Colossus / Machu Pichu if they are still available. Check for bankrupt City-States and give them Gold once you have at least 500g, but only if they are Maritime and/or Cultural City-Sates; otherwise keep the gold and you might soon discover a suitable City-States to use your saved Gold.

Other Civs may start to dislike you because they are after the favour of the same City-States that you are. Just make sure you have an up to date army and scout borders to see if an attack is imminent. Once you reached the Industrial age, you should research Industrialization after Scientific Theory (save to buy the Public School here for 920g). Then try to get some coal from a CS if you haven’t got any and build or buy the Factory for a 25% Science boost which you will get as soon as you have Planned Economy (should happen more or less at the same time if you start Order as soon as it unlocks).

Your next priority should be building the Hospital, in order to boost your growth even more and start using Specialists sooner rather than later. Next, go straight to Plastics for the Research Lab.

Phase 3: United Nations

Once your Gold is rolling in and you have made contact with nearly all City-States, you should be making regular donations prioritizing Maritime -> Cultural -> Religious -> Military -> Mercantile City-States. Research Military Science so you can build the Military Academy (and potentially the Brandenburg Gate) and then head straight to Atomic Theory, picking up Flight and Electronics on the way.

You should now focus on your military, as the other Civs will clearly not like you now that you have all those City-State friends. You should have Barracks/Armory/Military Academy as well as the Heroic Epic and start building 2 Triplanes with Interception promotions and then a few Bombers and Battleships. Continue your research towards Globalization, while you continue working on your defences and making donations to City-States.

Once you get to Globalization, start building the United Nations immediately, and set your research path to Radio (so you can upgrade your Air Force to Fighter/Bombers). At this stage you should be allied with all the City-States and your victory will be almost guaranteed. If there is a risk that a rich Civ might buy out your allies, it is not a bad idea to declare war on them just one turn before completing the United Nations and sit it out for those 10 turns until election.

Part II – A few things in more detail

Religion: Papal Primacy vs. Tithe

Papal Primacy (+15 influence resting point with City-States following your religion) seems to be an appealing choice as Founder Belief. However a quick calculation reveals that it doesn’t even come close to Tithe in terms of effectiveness for reaching your goal. For a Diplomatic victory you will need 10 City-State allies, and you can buy a +15 influence for 250g (in the worst case, i.e. late game) which equates to 2,500g needed for 10 City-States. However, since you will be spreading your religion to all City-States (and beyond), and once converted they will be generating Gold for you each turn whether they are allied with you or not, we can see that the generated amount will be much more than 2,500g. With 16 City-States, and an average population of 12, that is 48 gpt from City-States alone, and you will be making those 2,500 in roughly 50 turns easily. In fact you will be making more than 100g per turn quickly because other Civs will also be affected by your religion, which means that Tithe will be superior by a large margin.

Here are the best “Beliefs” for your religion:
1. Pantheon: Fertility Rites (+10% Growth)
2. Founder: Tithe (+1g /4 Followers)
3. Follower 1: Feed the World (+2 Food)
4. Follower 2: Religious Community (+15% Production)
5. Enhancer: Religious Texts (religion spreads faster -> more Gold income from Tithe)
6. Enhancer (Bonus): Itinerant Preachers (religion spreads farther -> even more Gold)

Important: buy an Inquisitor as soon as your religion is enhanced and place him next to the city.

Your typical opening strategy

Here is a recommended opening build order:
1. Monument while you research Pottery
2. Shrine (to ensure you get Fertility Rites) while you research Writing for the free GS
3. Granary
4. Temple of Artemis
5. Library
6. Hanging Gardens
7. Worker or Petra (if near desert and buy the Worker for 310g)
8. National College
9. 3 Archers
10. Hagia Sophia (get your Religion)
11. Grand Temple (you want to enhance your Religion ASAP to get your choice)
12. University (make sure you have 660g or trade lux to get it so you can buy it)
13. Oxford University (add some Specialists so it finishes with Compass)
14. Observatory (buy it for 780g)

Diplomacy and Research Agreements (RA)

1. Do not accept embassies from your immediate neighbours. This means you will not be able to sign RAs with them, but don’t be too greedy because at higher levels the AI will always have a stronger force then you and it’s better to keep them guessing then dealing with an attack a few turns later.
2. Do accept Declaration of Friendships from everyone
3. Your friends will come with requests for Gold or Lux; don’t hesitate turning them down and just be apologetic always
4. Your friends will approach you for a Research Agreement (once both of you have the required fund) so you don’t need to chase them for it; but once you built the Porcelain Tower and have the Social Policy: Scientific Revolution you should be very aggressive about it if you are after a Science Victory; make sure you have plenty of Gold income and buy some Lux from them if they don’t
5. Do not trade open borders unless they demand it as part of an RA in which case it’s fine (you don’t sign RAs with your neighbour anyway unless he is really weak)

Specialists and Great Tile Improvements

1. Since you are choosing Order you should not use specialists unless they no longer adversely affect your growth and/or all your tiles are being worked
2. Prioritize on using Science Specialists first and then Engineers
3. Plant all Great People initially
4. Choose a Great Scientist from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
5. Build the Porcelain Tower for a free Great Scientist/Academy
6. Build the Louvre for two Great Artists/Landmarks
7. Buy Great Scientists with Faith once you enter the industrial era. The first one of each costs 1,000 Faith, and the second one costs 1,500 Faith etc. After the second Great Scientist Start buying Great Engineers
8. Burn all Great Scientists once you have the Research Lab and all Science slots are filled

Citizen Management, Workers and Tile Improvements

Micromanagement is the name of the game, particularly in the beginning when you have few Citizens and no improved tiles. Citizen Management will be essential in getting that first Wonder before anyone else does. Here are a few pointers:
1. Lock the first default tile and put your focus on production immediately
2. If growth stagnates at Population two switch back to default and lock all tiles then put the focus back to production again
3. Once your granary is built and you unlocked the Landed Elite Social Policy (+2 Food and +10% Growth) you can safely focus all your Citizens on production tiles
4. Buy tiles with Hills nearby as soon as possible if your production is low
5. Have your first worker build mines and lumber mills first after improving Lux
6. Build farms last and lock any tile that gives +4 food (farms near rivers, grain/bananas/deer or fish once you built the lighthouse) to keep the growth going
7. Plant Great People on Grassland first (+2Food; makes them self-sustained), then Plains and last on Hills if nothing else is left, and don’t hesitate to put them on strategic resources (Horse, Oil, etc.) as you will not lose these; but you will lose Lux so avoid these.

Tech Progression

1. Pottery (-> Shrine, Granary)
2. Animal Husbandry (reveals Horses)
3. Archery (-> Temple of Artemis)
4. Writing (-> Library)
5. Mathematics (-> Hanging Gardens)
6. Currency (if near desert; -> Petra)
7. Mining + Lux improvement techs (including Sailing for Sea based Lux)
8. Philosophy (-> National College)
9. Theology (-> Hagia Sophia, Great Temple)
10. Education (-> buy University for 660g)
11. Astronomy (use Oxford University to get this and buy the Observatory for 780g)
12. Chivalry (-> Alhambra)
13. Iron Working (reveals Iron)
14. Metal Casting (-> Workshop)
15. Machinery (-> Ironworks)
16. Printing Press (-> Leaning Tower of Pisa)
17. Architecture (-> Hermitage; Porcelain Tower)
18. Scientific Theory (-> buy Public School)
19. Industrialization (-> Factory; Gatling Gun)
20. Biology (-> Hospital)
21. Plastics (-> Research Lab)
22. Military Science (-> Military Academy)
23. Atomic Theory (-> +2 Science from Academies)
24. Ecology (-> Sydney Opera House)
25. Globalization (-> United Nations)
26. Radar (-> Fighter/Bomber)
 
Social Policy Progression

After completing Tradition it’s a matter of completing the Patronage and Rationalism trees while going for Planned Economy as soon as the Industrial age unlocks Order.

Here is a recommended path:
1. Tradition

i. Tradition
ii. Legalism
iii. Landed Elite
iv. Aristocracy
v. Monarchy
vi. Oligarchy​

2. Patronage

i. Patronage
ii. Aesthetics (shifts your City-State influence resting point +20)​

3. Rationalism

i. Rationalism (+15% Science when Happy)​

4. Order

i. Order
ii. Planned Economy (+25% Science from Factory)​

5. Patronage

iii. Philanthropy
iv. Scholasticism (allied City-States provide 25% Science they produce)​

6. Rationalism

ii. Secularism
iii. Free Thought
iv. Scientific Revolution​

7. Patronage

v. Educated Elite
vi. Cultural Diplomacy​

8. Rationalism

v. Humanism
vi. Sovereignty (the two free techs will either get you Globalization or bring you very close)​

City-States

City-States will play a central part when pursuing a Diplomatic Victory. But they do provide other benefits as well such as additional Food (Maritime City States) and Culture (Cultural City-States), in addition to boosting your Science directly via the Patronage Social Policy Scholasticism. City-States synergize very well with religion: by converting them they will provide you with 2-4 Gold per Turn each, and your influence decay will be reduced 25%.

Proceed as follows:
1. Explore: on Pangaea/Continents Plus you will need a Caravel to reach all the CSs
2. Pledge to Protect: increases influence resting point by 10
3. Send Missionaries to convert them -> 25% reduction in influence decay + Gold income
4. Place your Spies in Maritime/Cultural CSs for election rigging -> influence gain + coup protection
5. Give at least 500g (but 1,000g is usually better) and don’t hesitate to do it early if the City-State is bankrupt, i.e. when you get 50% more influence for the same amount of Gold
6. Prioritize: Maritime-> Cultural -> Religious -> Military -> Mercantile

Military

Without Intel the AI is more hesitant to attack, and I found that not accepting embassies can significantly delay the initial assault in most cases but not always. However, you should build ranged units and defensive buildings sooner rather than later.

Here is what your army should look like and how it should evolve:
1. 3x Archers -> Composite Bowman-> Crossbowmen-> Gatling Guns (your Sentries)
2. 2x Cataphracts -> Knights -> Cavalry -> Landship -> Tank
3. 2x Dromons -> Galleass -> Frigates -> Battleships
4. 2x Triplanes -> Fighters (these are your earliest AA and crucial once the AI gets Flight)
5. 3-5x Great War Bombers -> Bombers
6. Add 2x Submarines -> Nuclear Submarines
7. Build/Buy more Bombers
About the Civ that likes to plant cities just one tile from your border: it’s not that they want to be cozy, sooner or later they will attack even if they’ve just made a Declaration of Friendship. Just be ready to repel their force and take out those cities once it happens.

List of Wonders you should try to get

1. Temple of Artemis (+10% Growth, Ranged Units produced +15% faster)
2. Hanging Gardens (+6 Food and a free Garden even if your City is not next to a River)
3. Hagia Sophia (Great Prophet and free Temple)
4. Alhambra* (+20% Culture and free Castle; difficult to get at higher levels, but worth aiming for)
5. Leaning Tower of Pisa (+25% GP generation, and a GP of choice)
6. Sistine Chapel (+25% Culture)
7. Porcelain Tower (Great Scientist and +50% Science from RAs)
8. Louvre (+2 Great Artists)
9. Statue of Liberty* (+1 Hammer/Specialist; quite difficult to get this one at higher levels)
10. Sydney Opera House (boosts culture by 50%; good chance to get this)

I hope you enjoyed this guide. Please feel free to provide comments/feedback or ask any questions.
Thanks!

 

[akashsara]

Nice guide!
But why Order? Why not Freedom?
Order gives only the 25% Boost to science. Freedom has more benefits for OCC yes?

 

[Syntax Error]

He wants the beaker boost as quickly as possible, also, considering that he'd be completing three trees as is (Tradition, Patronage, Rationalism), having to backfill another seven policies is too late for the sake of a boost. The cut in maintenance and stronger specialists are too good to pass up on though.

 

[Merenptah]

Nice guide!
But why Order? Why not Freedom?
Order gives only the 25% Boost to science. Freedom has more benefits for OCC yes?

You are correct in that if you are pursuing a Cultural or Science Victory, or just want to leave your options open, then Freedom as by far the superior choice as described in http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12105068#post12105068.

However, let's look at it in more detail.

1. Your last tech for which beakers count is Ecology, since you should be getting yoru last two techs (Telecommunications and Globalization) for free from completing the Rationalism Social Policy tree.

2. As discussed in http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12115706#post12115706 (see section on Freedom vs. Order), your Science output will be superior with Freedom as long as you have more than N Academies where N=(27+2P)/22, and P is the population of your city. This means that with a pupulation of 30+ you would need at least 5 Academies in order to be better off.

3. Now, even if you had plenty of Academies, and Freedom were better, you must keep in mind that Order will give you a 25% Science boost using up only two social policies (as Syntax Error correctly pointed out). In order to get the Freedom boost, you will need 6 Social Policies. Now, if you had six Social Policies available, it should be intuitive that for the purpose of a Diplomatic Victory, it is better to use two of them ot get the 25% Science boost and the other four to complete the Patronage tree.

4. Of course Freedom will boost your OCC in other ways as well such as more available Food, Culture and Production. However, you won't need much Culture as you will be filling only three Social Policy trees, not to mention that City-States will provide you with a significant amount of Culture as well as Food, and the biggest thing you will ever build is the United Nations.

I hope this helped to clarify why Order > Freedom when your mind is set on a Diplomatic Victory.

 

[akashsara]

You are correct in that if you are pursuing a Cultural or Science Victory, or just want to leave your options open, then Freedom as by far the superior choice as described in http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12105068#post12105068.

However, let's look at it in more detail.

1. Your last tech for which beakers count is Ecology, since you should be getting yoru last two techs (Telecommunications and Globalization) for free from completing the Rationalism Social Policy tree.

2. As discussed in http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12115706#post12115706 (see section on Freedom vs. Order), your Science output will be superior with Freedom as long as you have more than N Academies where N=(27+2P)/22, and P is the population of your city. This means that with a pupulation of 30+ you would need at least 5 Academies in order to be better off.

3. Now, even if you had plenty of Academies, and Freedom were better, you must keep in mind that Order will give you a 25% Science boost using up only two social policies (as Syntax Error correctly pointed out). In order to get the Freedom boost, you will need 6 Social Policies. Now, if you had six Social Policies available, it should be intuitive that for the purpose of a Diplomatic Victory, it is better to use two of them ot get the 25% Science boost and the other four to complete the Patronage tree.

4. Of course Freedom will boost your OCC in other ways as well such as more available Food, Culture and Production. However, you won't need much Culture as you will be filling only three Social Policy trees, not to mention that City-States will provide you with a significant amount of Culture as well as Food, and the biggest thing you will ever build is the United Nations.

I hope this helped to clarify why Order > Freedom when your mind is set on a Diplomatic Victory.

Yes, it did. Thank you!
I'm going to try this out in a while.

 

[Wargizmo]

That makes sense re: freedom vs order. But why not fill out the whole left side of rationalism before dipping into order? Surely the combined power of free thought and secularism as well as earlier scientific revolution totally outweigh getting the faster 25% science from factories and the earlier engineers.

 

[Browd]

Exactly. Rationalism left side to Order/Planned Economy. Only exception is one of those games where RAs simply can't be found (no one is friendly and/or everyone DOWs before the RA matures), then I'll skip Scientific Revolution and go into Order earlier.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Exactly. Rationalism left side to Order/Planned Economy. Only exception is one of those games where RAs simply can't be found (no one is friendly and/or everyone DOWs before the RA matures), then I'll skip Scientific Revolution and go into Order earlier.

100% of very little is not that much more than 75% of very little.
I'd skip Scientific Revolution on emperor for sure. And depending on geopolitics I might delay it on immortal too. After playing on immortal for a while, recently I played couple of deity games, and feel a significant difference in RA's output. On emperor 25% net boost will probably outweigh 25% boost for RA's capped by pathetic bpt of backward AI. Free Thought and Secularism should not be delayed, though.

 

[Merenptah]

That makes sense re: freedom vs order. But why not fill out the whole left side of rationalism before dipping into order? Surely the combined power of free thought and secularism as well as earlier scientific revolution totally outweigh getting the faster 25% science from factories and the earlier engineers.

Yes and No.

1. The competition is actually between more Rationalism or more Patronage. Filling up the first two Order policies as soon as the Industrial era opens up will allways provide the quickest Science boost. Rationalism opens before with the Renaissance period, so it should not be an issue getting those LHS Rationalism policies up to and excluding Scientific Revolution (which provides little at this stage as others pointed out) if you want to before the beginning of the Industrial era.

2. I usually start with improving mines and Lumber mills, and my growth can get lower then I'd like towards the end of the pre-industrial era. Therefore, I prefer not to run any specialists during this period when aiming for a Diplomatic Victory, because my build list is huge (Wonders, Bank, units, etc.), I need Growth badly as well as Gold (and that is before Religion based Gold income starts to kick in substantially) for befriending City-States (which will give me that much needed Food); all of which will be provided by citizen actually working tiles. So I prefer to take Patronage policies (particularly Aesthetics, since that takes time to take effect). For a Science Victory it would be different of course, and you would be using Science specialists well before the Industrial era, and naturally Rationalism LHS takes priorty without a doubt.

3. Once you do get Secularism, however, I would occupy all three Science specialists no matter what. But that will generally be after getting Planned Economy and having a built or bought a Factory. The +25% Science provided by the Factory will also affect the Science generated from Specialists, and at that stage they are just too good not to be used; not to mention that you should definitely have a few Maritime allies at this stage with growth no longer being an issue.

4. It is important to research Archaeology first (-> Museum; and sometimes even Biology for the +5 Food provided by the Hospital), before heading for Radio (-> Broadcast Tower) and then Plastics (-> Research Lab), since the Broadcast Tower, which gives +33% Culture, requires having built the Museum first. The purpose of course is to speed up Social Policy progression, so that you get to Secularism and Free Thought sooner, before proceeding to complete the Patronage tree.

I hope this helped to clarify the choice of Social Policy progression.

 

[Haig]

Merentaph nice work on this and the other OCC guides!