One City Challenge - Purity; Tips and Tricks!

[Kaitzilla]

KrikketTwo has single-handedly saved me some turns!

According to others, the Exodus Gate can't be built until a Lasercom Satellite is launched first.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=536665



Now that Turn 163 is here, and I've just watched a city that had stronger defenses than mine die, I'm starting to eyeball some military units/buildings.
Obviously 3 trade routes to the same AI past the Slavic Federation is kind of short sighted now that I look.
I hear sending a trade route to each AI cuts down on war, so I should probably do so the next time I have to renew trade routes.

And if I'm really gonna send 3 routes to 1 AI, it should be African Union to the southeast which won't be pillaged so easily if I go to war with the West.

A few AI have now reached Affinity 4, including African Union.
If one of them sends a 40 Affinity unit at me, I'm dead meat.

 

[CraziFuzzy]

The other thing you will have to plan ahead is where your terran settlements are going to go. You'll need 4 of them, preferably with safe and fast passage from your gate. The settlements have to obey the same rules for cities, meaning not withing 3 spaces of another.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Oh! I forgot about that.

Yes, yes I will have to build one.
Getting positive cashflow to do a trade deal for oil will be more important than I thought.

You might not need to do a trade deal for oil (not sure how soon it will be, but you will eventually get that northern oil in your borders)..so speed that up keep buying tiles whenever you can (since you can't buy them when they are outside of the 3 range... but that will speed up culture expansion)

However, it is definitely worthwhile as it gives you 15% science (and a wonder with a culture boost..if that hasn't gone yet)

A thought on your Nanopasture bug, maybe it empties out the 'saved' food whenever you advance in population.


Also military wise, you probably just need to focus on basic units (they are resource free and get boosted by affinity, which you are getting plenty of)... Maybe research Mobile LEV since your 4 free Floatstone can be used for one LEV Tank.

 

[Kaitzilla]

The other thing you will have to plan ahead is where your terran settlements are going to go. You'll need 4 of them, preferably with safe and fast passage from your gate. The settlements have to obey the same rules for cities, meaning not withing 3 spaces of another.

I'll keep this in mind thanks

You might not need to do a trade deal for oil (not sure how soon it will be, but you will eventually get that northern oil in your borders)..so speed that up keep buying tiles whenever you can (since you can't buy them when they are outside of the 3 range... but that will speed up culture expansion)

However, it is definitely worthwhile as it gives you 15% science (and a wonder with a culture boost..if that hasn't gone yet)

A thought on your Nanopasture bug, maybe it empties out the 'saved' food whenever you advance in population.


Also military wise, you probably just need to focus on basic units (they are resource free and get boosted by affinity, which you are getting plenty of)... Maybe research Mobile LEV since your 4 free Floatstone can be used for one LEV Tank.

I've bought all but 2 tiles and that oil has been up there for the whole game, but my city still won't take it.
I'm certain I'll have to trade for oil.


Not sure what you mean about the Nanopasture.
It doesn't count the food retained from the previous growth when calculating how much to give on the next growth?

The 10% retained from Virtues seemed to be working perfectly.
The 30% retained from Nanopasture is really tormenting me, because with both bonuses together I'm retaining less than 30%.


I might build a military unit this game thanks.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 179


The Slavic Federation and Kavithan Protectorate's war against the Pan Asian Cooperative was a drawn out stalemate this turnset.
Units in 1's and 2's were flung at PAC's two remaining cities without much effect.

I spread my trade routes out to Slavic Federation, Kavithan Protectorate, and African Union in hopes that this will reduce their willingness to destroy me.
Traded Open borders with Slavic, Kavithan, and African civs.
Renewed Cooperation Treaties with Kavithan and African, but Slavic refused.

I also made two trade deals to acquire the 2 Petroleum and 1 Titanium I needed to launch a Lasercom Satellite.
Thankfully my borders expanded just enough to acquire 2 more Xenomass with which I could easily trade.

Spoiler :

Spies had great success.
Stole 731 towards Human Conservation twice.
Also managed to steal 531 Energy doing the spy questline, but due to two earlier failures, there wasn't enough intrigue to do anything else except steal Energy again.
At this rate, I won't complete the spy questline for my free spy until after the game is over.




Buildings gave some nice quest bonuses.
Finally got +10% after city growth from Cloning Plants, but I really doubt I'll get the full 50% due to Nanopasture bug.
The Bionics Lab also gave me +1


My 16th Virtue showed up near the end of the turnset and I picked Applied Aesthetics.
30% of my being turned into Energy per turn is a nice boost that I really needed!
Two more virtues and I'll have completed the entire Knowledge Virtue Tree, which will award me +1 Free Technology.

Spoiler :

Thanks to some vital information from KrikketTwo, I altered my tech path and teched Communications, Human Conservation, Orbital Networks, and restarted Civil Support.



After 3 steals netting 75% of Human Conservation, I had only 2 turns left to finish it.
I suppose the 3 turns I took researching it a single turn so spies could steal 1/4th of it for me added up in small measures?
Went ahead and took 2 turns to finish it manually.

Not only did I get Purity 5 from completing it, but Purity 6 and Purity 7 as well.
I was close to Purity 5 anyway, so +40XP in Purity affinity should have leveled it that much now that I check the math.



To reach Purity 13, I should need 19+20+21+22+23+24 more XP (129), which I should get by finishing a few more techs.
Alien Genetics, Civil Service, Biospheres, Servomachinery, and the last 50% on Tactial LEV should net me 18+25+25+25+40=133XP for Purity.


All of the other civs that matter are now Affinity 7 or Affinity 5, so I'll have to be on my guard militarily.

Spoiler :

City built Bionics Lab, Worker, Rocket Battery, Command Center, and started Memetwork.
Also spent 490 Energy to buy a Lasercom Satellite instantly.

Spoiler :

Very annoying that you can't launch a satellite the turn you buy it.
It says it is ready to launch, but the buttons up top won't appear until the following turn.

Here is my capital as of turn 179:
Notice is it now 77 and much harder for anyone to kill.

Spoiler :

Memetwork is a really nice Wonder that isn't outrageously expensive.
+4
+2
+25% in the city it is built.

I'm sure you are all wondering, why avoid Communications and Orbital Satellites if it unlocks a 20 building that gives a free spy, a +15% satellite, and a smoking hot wonder?
Honestly, I would have done this stuff 40 turns ago, but figured Communications/Orbital Satellites were out of my needed research path and would have just slowed down my start date on building Exodus Gate.
But since these 2 techs are necessary for a Promised Land Win, I waited too long to tech them ya.

I'd finish those 3 terrascape improvements right now if I could, but I can't afford them.
Also building 2 biowells and a couple of manufactories to ramp up later.
Exodus Gate currently says 37 turns to complete with my low production.
Goal is to tech as fast as possible to start Exodus Gate, then ramp up production as much as possible to finish it fast.

Brand new Station landed southeast of my city named Shackleton.
Will take too long to get it to Tier 3 to be of any use.

Wish the tuber and fruit and fungus tiles could have different improvements on them.
Plantation and terrascape are the only ones allowed.

 

[Zet]

You're going to need a lot of production. This is why full Knowledge is bad for OCC in my opinion.

 

[Kaitzilla]

You're going to need a lot of production. This is why full Knowledge is bad for OCC in my opinion.

10/15 Knowledge might be best ya.
The free tech gonna be too late to make a difference unless I can score +1 to farms during the Exodus Gate build.

Sucks that improvements can't be prebuilt like in Civ 4.
Might have to trash 1 or 2 terrascapes because of their cost.
And 1 biowell too.
+10 gives a +10% bonus, but in many ways you are better off just building more manufactories.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 194


The Slavic Federation has decided to make a game of it at the end.
Not 1, not 2, but 3 colonists are cruising through my borders for greener lands on the far side of me.

Spoiler :

SNEAKY

Perhaps open borders with Slavic Federation was bad idea.
So I politely asked him not to settle cities near my borders.
Specifically, that offender behind his head and the other near his elbow.



If his borders touch my borders, that will be very bad.

Also, the previously peaceful African Union is flexing its muscles with a 70 Orbital Laser against a station to my east named Far Base One.



It goes to 0hp but heals right back up again.
Maybe a unit has to move into a city to capture it?

The Slavic Federation and Kavithan Protectorate are seemingly unable to finish off the PAC's last 2 cities.
Hopefully that war continues until the game ends.


Not all was bad with AI relations.
Made 2 good trade deals once my 3 Xenomass for 4 Energy per turn ended and I also got 4 free Floatstone from Purity 8.

Spoiler :

AI trade deals have allowed me to trade 8 Xenomass and 4 Floatstone for enough things to construct 1 Lasercom Satellite, 2 Holomatrix Satellites, and a Titanium to build a True Battlesuit later.


Spies had a good turnset.
After failing to steal Science once, the next spies stole 585 Energy and 731 twice!
The x2 theft happened on the same turn, so they also answered my question on whether stolen overflows.
It very much does!

Spoiler :

The double steal blew through 1/3rd of Tactical LEV and did 65% of Servomachinery the following turn.


Building Quests were fairly generous.
Got +5 to my city from Rocket Battery.
The biggest reward was certainly +1 Free Spy from Command Center!
Will level him up and then either steal Energy or put him in my capital to help assist the other spies.


About midway through the turnset, my 4th Affinity Quest appeared.
Explore the Ancient Tomb it said.
So I sent a scout who was guarding my borders up to check, and then it said send a troop in after the excavation completed.
But.... I have no military.
Much like "Solid State Citizen", I am going to have to let "Written in Stone" go uncompleted as I reach Purity 13 through teching.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 194, Part 2

My 5th Great Wonder was completed, the Memetwork.



A massive increase in .
It will certainly speed up my 18th through 20th Virtues and grant me a bit more Energy per turn.

During this turnset, the AI finally built some wonders.
Markov Eclipse (Slavic Federation)
Promethian (South American States)
Master Control (Kavithan Protectorate)
Someone built Drone Sphere 50 turns ago, but I forgot whom


Achieved enough to get my 17th Virtue.
Chose Community Medicine for a nice boost.

Spoiler :

City grew one more time from 21 Pop to 22 Pop, so I'll take one more look at retained after growth.
For this last city growth, I had 4 bonuses
10% after city growth from Frugality virtue
30% after city growth from Nanopasture
10% after city growth from Cloning Plant
10% after city growth from Biospheres

Here is the before and after growth:

Spoiler :

563.64/575 and then 233.01/624
With a growth rate of 21.56, there should have been an overflow of 10.2
That means there was 222.81 after growth.
This total is 38.75% of the 575 food bin or 35.7% of the 624 food bin.
One 10% bonus came when the food bin was half full, and the other 10% bonus came when the city was 1 turn from growing to Pop 22, so maybe some food didn't get counted.
Even so, it still feels like Nanopasture is only giving 15% bonus, not 30%.


The teching this turnset was very fun!
Thankfully Tactical LEV was already half done from 2 previous spy steals earlier in the game.
Went from Purity 7 to Purity 12

Teched Civil Support (Purity 8), Biospheres (Purity 9), Tactical LEV (Purity 11), Servomachinery (Purity 12), and started on Alien Genetics.
I am 10/24XP towards Purity 13, and Alien Genetics will yield +18XP towards Purity, so I am 2 turns away from starting the Exodus Gate.




City built a Holomatrix Satellite, Memetwork, and started another Holomatrix Satellite.
I didn't know I needed a military unit until turn 192 to complete "Written in Stone"
I could make one now, but I'll be Purity 13 on Turn 196 so I don't think it matters much.
Will start Exodus Gate on turn 196 with no military at all and hope for the best!

Here is my city as of turn 194:

Spoiler :

Gonna ramp up as much as possible in 2 turns.
Would do it now for overflow, but I need every to get my tech done in 2 turns, not 3.
Will complete a couple more terrascapes and hope I don't run out of Energy and my Energy steal doesn't fail.
Will also keep teching towards +1 on farms with my +1 Free Tech with 1 more virtue and some more spy steals.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

You can build a Marine and send him in

 

[Kaitzilla]

You can build a Marine and send him in

Maybe after I build the Exodus Gate, I'll build one and go see what the reward is.

Turn 196, Exodus Gate begins!


I wanted to do this quick update so everyone can see a single city can start the Exodus Gate before turn 200 even if a couple of Affinity Quests don't get done.
And I'm pretty sure I didn't get any free Affinity Levels from Progenitor Ruins either.



A respectable 70 per turn gets it done in 25 turns.
Will certainly try to speed things up using my 5 workers!
Put the massive thing 2 tiles from my city on a biowell (east/northeast) I didn't need.


Here I find that my 18th Virtue and +1 Free Tech from completing the Knowledge tree will come just before my spies start to steal.
So getting Bioengineering->Industrial Ecology done in 12 turns should be a real possibility which unlocks +1 for farms.



Such fortuitous timing is surprisingly good luck totally expected when trusting to my hoping for the best very laborious and precise calculations.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 210


Slavic Federation settled around my capital as expected, ruining 1 or 2 good sites to put my Exodus cities down.
Should still have 4 spots I think. (barely)

More alarming is that one of my spies got killed!
We all know which civ it happened in, right?

Spoiler :

Sigh, if it's any consolation, the spy died successfully stealing me +1 to farms.

On the other side, African Union succeeded in murdering Far Base One when they sent a Battlesuit in.
I now have a brand new Derelict Settlement to excavate, so thanks!



There didn't appear to be any dramatic consequences to the station dying, but PAC told me that they would "teach them a lesson"(African Union), so there might be a DOW there soon.


Spies had a fun time, except the dead one.
All 4 succeeded in their missions.
Stole 75% of Industrial Ecology and enough Energy to buy my 1st military unit.
Gonna send him up to check out that Tomb. (It better not cause another diplomatic incident!)

Spoiler :

Spying is pretty fun in this game, except when it causes a diplomatic incident.
Hopefully it doesn't lead to a DOW that delays my win a dozen turns or outright kills me.
The replacement spy(recruit) should be along in 5 turns roughly.
Will finally be completing the spy questline on turn 212 once I extract the spy and get +1 free spy.
Took over 100 turns to complete the freaking questline haha.


Only 1 building quest this turnset.
The Soma Distillery offered me +10% or +5%, and I took the health since I don't really need culture anymore.
Kovithan Protectorate built the Xenomalleum.


Got enough culture for my 18th Virtue.
Picked Field Research.
Since this completed the entire Knowledge tree, it also granted me +1 Free Tech!

Spoiler :

All kinds of stuff got teched this turnset, even if it wasn't very important.
Teched Alien Genetics, Geophysics, Alien Biology, Planetary Survey, Power Systems, Bioengineering, Industrial Ecology, Alien Lifeforms, and started Artificial Intelligence.
Industrial Ecology bumped me up to Purity 14 which upgraded a unit.

Will continue to tech nonsense stuff, unless I see a tech that will give me Supremacy 3(Free roads)
Now that I look, maybe Tactical Robotics would be better than Artificial Intelligence.
Free roads are so nice.
On my next free tech from my 20th virtue, I'll pick something big like the Planet Carvers tech.



I find it really annoying that the Notification Log doesn't record what you successfully teched:

Spoiler :

City built Holomatrix Satellite and started the Exodus Gate this turnset.
was really cranked up, and I very much hope to have the Exodus Gate completed on turn 216, 20 turns after I started to build it.

Here is my city as it stands on turn 210:

Spoiler :

Will probably have my worker destroy a terrascape to cut down on expenses.
Starting now, my workers will begin building rail lines radiating outward from the Exodus Gate to get the earthlings where they need to be quickly.
That one geothermal resource I discovered and am improving now will probably be traded from some titanium to build True Battlesuits.
City still refuses to grab that oil up north, which has been there the entire game.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 225

Can cut the tension with a knife!
The AI are being free and fast with the threats now.

Spoiler :

There is only one proper response to such threats.



That's right!
War with me means war with the African Union too now.

Nobody has declared war on me yet, but they certainly have a long list of reasons to do so:

Spoiler :

That trade route to the Slavic Federation must be making all the difference.
Covet my land haha.

Made some more trade deals.
Traded 1 Xenomass to African Union for 45 Energy so I wouldn't go negative before spies stole more Energy.
Also found out that Friendly relations make a huge difference when trading for Strategic Resources:

Spoiler :

Pretty funny I can go -6 Petroleum.
My satellites still work.
Guess I just can't build any new ones until I go positive again.

African Union flattened yet another station.
Hopefully it won't cause anyone to declare war on him.
It does give me yet another Derelict Settlement to excavate.
The previous one gave my city 380, even though I was hoping for +1 population.




Spies finally completed the spy questline named "Operative Extraction" and got me +1 Free Spy.
Assigned the new spy to Operations Support in my capital to help the other 5 spies not get caught.
They also failed and succeeded at stealing Energy for me.
Their task for the rest of the game will be to steal Energy to buy troops and maybe 1 technology for fun.


My Centurion completed the "Written in Stone" affinity quest by exploring the tomb and netted me +12XP purity points and +130
That was just enough to bump me up to Purity 15, and unlocked the mighty naval Dreadnaught.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 225, Part 2

Midway through the turnset, I completed the Exodus Gate.



With my best efforts to ramp up production, it took 21 turns to complete.
Every turn, you can click on it and it will spit out an Earthling Settler.
They have 1 and can found a settlement more than 3 tiles away from a city.
Each settlement will hold up to 6 colonists, and you need 20 of them settled to win a Promised land victory.
So you can have 5 in each of 4 settlements, or do 6-6-6-2 if you want too.

It's a lot easier to move them around if you have magrails, but I found out that I was 1 turn too slow building a mag rail on the Exodus Gate.
And it appears that you can't have a worker and colonist sharing the same tile.
Do NOT move a worker onto a colonist, or the colonist will trade places with the worker and use up its only movement point going somewhere dumb.

So how did I complete the magrail on the Exodus Gate?
I summoned an Earthling Settler and moved it off the gate.
Then I moved a worker onto the gate and spent 1 turn on a magrail.
Then the next turn, I moved the worker off the tile, summoned a settler, moved him off the gate, and moved another worker onto the gate to do a magrail again.

I also found it interesting that keeping my Centurion in my capital raised the city defense by 5 each turn it was in the city.
Not sure how many turns it does that because I only kept it in my city 2 turns to heal.


Got enough in my capital to gain my 19th and 20th Virtues.
Picked Central Planning and Commoditization.
This unlocked my Tier 1 synergy bonus and granted my capital city +10% Energy and +10%

Spoiler :

Since it was my 20th virtue, my civ bonus which gives +1 free tech every 10 virtues granted me another +1 Free Technology
Had to pick Cybernetics for Orbital Lasers because I forgot to tech Mechatronics first to unlock Astrodynamics/Planet Carvers.

Spoiler :

Teched Climate Control, Cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence, and started Mechatronics this turnset.
Climate Control gave me just enough XP to reach Supremacy 3 and unlock free roads.

Spoiler :

City built Exodus Gate, 2 True Battlesuits, and started on a Dragoon.
Both Battlesuits and my Centurion are fortifying on the settlements founded by my Earthling Settlers.

Here is my city as it currently stands on turn 225:

Spoiler :

Building a magrail line out to the east.
When I hover over the icon, it says +20% city when magrails connect cities, but I'm not seeing any bonus like that yet.
Do cities have a magrail already in them like in Civ 4, or do you have to build them in the city 1st to make a magrail connection?

I really like how the Tacnet Hub Satellite only costs 80 and doesn't cost any strategic resources to build.
One would be really handy to deploy on some frontline units if a war broke out.

I've planned it out so that the last Earthling Settler will settle 2 tiles east of the Exodus Gate to win the game in 11 turns.
The AI better declare war soon or the game will be over!

 

[CraziFuzzy]

I think the +20% production for magrail connections has to do with the 'city connection' mechanic, which doesn't apply to the capital, therefore doesn't apply in your OCC.

 

[Kaitzilla]

I think the +20% production for magrail connections has to do with the 'city connection' mechanic, which doesn't apply to the capital, therefore doesn't apply in your OCC.

Ah thanks CraziFuzzy, didn't know that


So! I've discovered another fairly sizable bug.

How to get all 20 Earthling Settlers out in a single turn.

1) Build a long rail line through the Exodus Gate.
2) Summon an Earthling Settler and move him far away from the gate.
3) Save the game, exit to main menu, load your save.
4) Summon another Earthling Settler and move him far away.

Each time you reload your save, the Exodus Gate is refreshed and ready to work again.


I will refrain from cheating in this manner and finish the game normally.


**Edit**
Looks like a bug report was filed over this issue on October 28th by MastermindX here.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Turn 236, Victory!

The AI was all bark, no bite!
Threats continued, but the dreaded DOW never occurred.

Spoiler :

Spies finished the game strong, stealing both Energy and an entire technology.

A 5th Affinity quest appeared named "Civil Skies"
It wanted me to build a city next to some floatstone, which I could not.

Spoiler :

After my scout excavated another 390 from a former station, I earned enough culture to gain my 21st and last virtue.
Picked Investment.
Being the 5th Production virtue, it also gave me +10% Energy in my city.

Spoiler :

Here's a shot of my Earthling Settler showing the power of magrails.
It only has 1 point, but can move 6 tiles thanks to the magrail!




Teched Mechatronics and stole Alien Ecology.

City built Dragoon, Tac Net Satellite, True Battlesuit, Tac Net Satellite again, and finally a Needler (Jet).
Here it is as of turn 236, the turn of the Victory.
Settling the 20th Earthling Settler triggered the victory immediately, so no waiting until next turn to get the win.

Spoiler :

And here are some graphs of the game from the opening menu when I selected "Replay" for my game.

Spoiler :

I wish the AI was more aggressive in this game.
The Slavs especially could have squashed me like grapes at any point in the game.

Hope everyone enjoyed this game and didn't strain their eyes on the .jpg pictures too badly!
If you'all want to see me try a harder challenge than OCC, let me know.

 

[ggmoyang]

Well played!

 

[Kaitzilla]

Well played!

Thanks!

 

[KMadCandy]

I am old school and much prefer to read about games instead of watching videos. Finally picked up BE this weekend in the Steam Sale and am trying to figure out the tech web and virtues. Even though I imagine some of the details have changed with the patch, watching your thought process as your game progressed was helpful to me as I unlearn and relearn. Thank you!