Outback Tycoon

After half a dozen attempts, I managed to beat the scenario on deity with +1000GPT, playing as South Australia.
I was lucky to have a lot of horses and tea and rivers near my first city of Adelaide, and so I spammed outback stations and plantations wherever I could. This gave me a huge production output, which then went into spamming AIF troops. Most cities were producing AIF every 2-3 turns.

Near the end, I added 2 National Parks, chopped leftover trees to boost AIF production, switched all of my trade routes to international cities, switched all of my policies to +gold (from the previous +production focus), and switched all of my cities' governors to a gold focus.

Of all of my playthroughs, playing in RL South Australia location was the most successful. You have access to a wide expanse of land and coastline and are near Western Australia and Victoria (for trading).

Here is a link to a reddit post I shared earlier (with screenshots), but I thought it would be useful to cross-post considering people here are explicitly asking about Deity.
https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/5w789y/outback_tycoon_deity_victory_1000gpt/

 

Pretty good work!

 

I have done another 3 playthroughs (1 WA, 1 VIC, 1 QLD) to see if I can repeat my success. 2 games I hit ~950, and the third I hit ~860. The secret really comes down to spamming outback stations EVERYWHERE, or placing farms/mines where you can't place outback stations. Also, chopping trees/jungle is a great way to boost production, to get the graziers and AIF ticking along (1-2 turns MAX).

For my WA game, I tried playing across the northern, northwestern and western coasts. I was very spaced out, and couldn't use international trade routes. It worked just as well as playing at TSL South Australia.

 

I managed to beat deity last night but focused on settling cities where I can spam out national parks later in the game (they're worth at least 20 gpt and don't require citizens to work the tiles). Youll need the additional 2 appeal card to allow more parks to be built. All my cities had commercial zones and all the financial buildings were built (240 gpt in 8 cities) with support from graziers chopping forests with the additional 2 actions card. Most cities also had harbours to support with gpt and my early cities with high production also managed to churn out hangars and airports. I had all 8 trade routes up and running with the 6gpt card bonus. I focused on growth in my cities the whole game and where I didn't have national parks I was building outback improvements for the housing and additional gpt and supported this with the 1gpt pasture card. I switched production to aif training (av. 10 gpt) when I knew this was going to be more beneficial than building anything with less gpt. Lastly dont forget to switch policies and citizens on the last turn to maximise gpt.

 

I had no gold, so also 2 Settlers less, still managed to get nearly 800 gpt on first try. And I see enough room for improvement.

 

I imagine losing a settler on deity makes it night on impossible?

 

Good point. All the time I had my units scouting round the coast I didn't get any RNG events and being near the coast helps get out harbours for early trade routes and buildings with gpt.

 

I didn't even bother mentioning this in the thread because it felt so obvious... I blame having watched the livestream. Indeed a good point if you want to get a good score on this scenario.

 

I think I found out the way to easy win this scenario. I made 1912gpt which is twice is required for deity, although I played on prince and I dunno if it affects difficulty in this scenario (I don't think). Except you don't get deity achievement at end if you don't set diety at start
I reached 900gpt at turn 55 but I'm not sure this is important to reach high gold before WWII (turn 53).

All you have to do is be prepared (strategy spoilers below) :
- 1 chopped forest = 1 AIF, you can do MULTIPLE in the same turn (just, chop, set prod again, chop, etc), 1 chopped jungle is maybe 70% of 1 AIF (dunno for sure but less than 100%)
- Your only concern about settling should be "how many trees can I get around my city", (3 squares top). 12+ is about good settling number. Maybe for the first one or 2 city, also pick a good "normal" site to help early play. Since you can go very fast on sea (including settlers), don't be afraid to spread your cities via sea travel to reach more trees.
- Never chop a forest before WWI (AIF) and, which I did not do (so I'm pretty sure there is room for improvement and reach 3k gpt), maybe not even before WWII because AIF gives +20gpt instead of +10 at WWI. And it does not convert. You can survey gold output per city by hovering gold in a city. AIF are listed in "modifiers" (translated from french). Which was +150-+280 per city for me at end (just the aif modifier).
- Until WW2 you can play "normally", I suggest making 2 cities with ability to get ports at start to get eureka for commercial hub more or less early.
- Hammer/gold ratio for buying units is about 3.9, so if a policy gives you more than 4 times your prod in gold, that's the best one imho.
- Build/buy a lot of your best ratio gold vs action unit (can use a policy to max that), and place them on tiles to be chopped just before turn 53
- Chop and build like 3 AIF each turn (or each 2 turn, cause you need moving units) on every city after turn 53. You'll get more than +200 gpt/turn which is quite enough to beat deity in the 8 turns left (turn 60 works too).
- You'll get a lot of gold, dont forget to use it (buy hub improvements or more chopping unit while you still dont have enough to chop everything in time, and of course tiles to be chopped)
- Never build any district except 2-3 ports (early) then hub. Maybe 1 industrial if you can get 3-4 cities in it's range. Anyway even those districts are not priority #1.

Thats it !

Summary :
- Settle near LOTS of wood, or at least jungle, always! Except first 1 or 2 city maybe
- Be ready for turn 53 with your choppers (any unit will do)
- Chop chop chop multiple AIF per city per turn and win easily, even if you were a bit low on gpt until then
- The rest is only small gpt in comparison (natural parc, whatever, better to make 4 aif chopping 4 slots = +80gpt than 1 park, which could still be done after chopping, with the right policy)

Dont be afraid if you dont see gpt change when you chop aif, it will change on the next turn (or just save+reload to update ui).

Hope it helped.
Any comments welcome.

 

We'll done on finding such an optimum strategy! I can't see that the difficulty would make any difference to the scenario other than proving a different gpt target .

 

Just to know, should we build as many cities as possible, or is there an "optimal" number of cities ? If your strategy works, I will find you, and I will hug you !

 

You can only build a maximum of 8 cities and worth making sure you have them all out as quickly as possible

 

yep get as many as you can (and ofc as early as you can), just well pick your spots, better to travel a few more turns and get a better slot (more trees/jungle).

Glad to see it's been of some help to you guys

 

I would like to know the city list for each Australian state, as well as the leader abilities.

 

I'm going to be very subtle and just copy-paste the relevant part of the xml-file.

EDIT: Would like to mention that the names might not be the same (Sydney is New South Wales ingame) but to be fair I doubt there's any exceptions apart from Sydney.
EDIT2: Saw you also mentioned leader abilities, but you can also read them when you're picking your leader in the scenario setup. That way you also have them without ugly code (which I probably can't provide).

<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_BRISBANE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_IPSWICH"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_TOOWOOMBA"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_WARWICK"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_ROCKHAMPTON"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_MARYBOROUGH"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_GLADSTONE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_QUEENSLAND" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_GYMPIE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_PERTH"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_FREMANTLE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_TOODYAY"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_ALBANY"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_GERALDTON"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_YORK"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_BUNBURY"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_WESTERN_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_GUILDFORD"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_MELBOURNE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_GEELONG"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_BENDIGO"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_CASTLEMAINE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_BALLAARAT"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_BEECHWORTH"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_PORTLAND"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_VICTORIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_PORT_FAIRY"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_ADELAIDE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_MOUNT_GAMBIER"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_MOONTA"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_WALLAROO"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_PORT_PIRIE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_PORT_AUGUSTA"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_NARACOORTE"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA" CityName="LOC_CITY_NAME_SCENARIO_GAWLER"/>
<Row CivilizationType="CIVILIZATION_SYDNEY" CityName="LOC_CIVILIZATION_SCENARIO_SYDNEY_NAME"/>

 

I've just tried this strategy, it's the easiest way to win the scenario, everything is irrelevant except chop-chop for AIF, 1800 gpt first try. Spam explorer (to find best forest/jungle location), farmers and gaziers (both can have 5 build points). I suggest also to rush industrial and build 2-3 factories, to help getting extra AIF (it's more GPT than commercial anyway).

 

I have dug up the leader information:

Queensland:

Sunshine State: All tiles gain +1 Appeal

Main strategy: With additional appeal, it's easier for Queensland to construct national parks and seaside resorts; settle near natural wonders before Western Australia grabs them

South Australia:

Free Colony: Start with a free Grazier; all Graziers trained in a South Australian city have an additional charge

Main strategy: With better Graziers, South Australia should focus on constructing Pastures and Outback Stations

Victoria:

Victorian Gold Rush: Start with a free Prospector; all Prospectors trained in a Victorian city have an additional charge

Main strategy: With better Prospectors, Victoria should focus on constructing Mines and Quarries

Western Australia:

Golden Outback: Gain additional tiles when settling cities

Main strategy: With additional tiles, Western Australia should settle near natural wonders to choke off competitors, especially Queensland

 

Glad to see it worked for you too
I'm kinda proud, which is idiotic, just a game, but still am

EDIT : Im not sure I agree on the factories, because 95% of the time you will get completion via chopping forest or via chopping jungle+1turn. So... not sure it helps that much. Yes if it reaches like 3 cities in its range, yes (although clearly not priority #1, which is still getting choppers prepared), but not for 1 city imho.
EDIT bis : chop even if 1 turn left, it will carry on on next prod (still will be 1 turn left). I didnt know and missed a few tiles because of this "waiting 1 turn". So maybe a few more industrial district can be good, but as said not priority #1.

 

Just did another run, with a different civ : 1932gpt (pretty much same as before), on real deity this time (and I confirm : it doesnt change anything, except this time I got the deity achievement).

Still room for improvement (2400ish for sure, but 3k maybe not, dunno) but I don't think I'll get back to this scenario anytime soon.
You really have to prepare a lot of choppers for turn 53 because each tile = 2 turns (one for moving), so 8 turns = 4 chopping per unit max, if all tiles are next to each other in your "chopping order". I missed a few tiles here and there.
Anyway, I can (re)confirm it's really easy to be wayyy above 900gpt with this strategy.