Paradigm Shift Reboot! Queen of Culture 2

[ParadigmShifter]

Cathy Queen of Culture 2 - round 9 part 4

Shrine gets built

That nets me 12 roubles a turn and +4 culture (with +300%, so that makes 16cpt)

Getting closer now

Novgorod and Thebes are both due a GP in 13 turns. I need a non-priest non-artist GP for a golden age, so Novgorod needs to produce the goods first

So I starve Novgorod (just a little!) to ensure that is the case.

All the cool civs are running free religion. But they aren't looking like they are going to win the game anytime soon are they, Willy?

I don't want random cathedrals to be destroyed by spies so I want a spy in each culture city.

Latest tech news

Hammy built the Kremlin

Stoneage Steve jumps aboard the caravel. Will the hut still be there when he gets back? Will it pop barbs? (Answer: no, scouts never pop barbs). The suspense...

Another deal is offered. No thanks.

Another rifle after the spy

And a frigate is finished here, start on another

More rifles here

Sigh...

Bigger and badder boat tech arrives

I go for military tradition next. I don't really need it. I start a ship of the line in Thebes though.

I start a second spy

And I notice I can build the Heroic Epic here in the time it would take to build another rifle, so I go for it.

The bank is finished here, another rifle it is

Willy completes the Statue of Liberty

 

[sinergistic]

Wow, the detail you put into your reports is astounding. Well done!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Cathy Queen of Culture 2 - round 9 part 5

The hut is still there! Stoneage Steve nets me 59 roubles! That probably makes up for the maintenance I have paid for him since 4000BC...

I start another rifle. I have quite a few now.

Novgorod produces a gret person, a Great Engineer. I stop starving it and build another boat.

So I move the engineer to where the prophet is, double click (making a group), and hit the golden age button. Thus guaranteeing I don't accidentally burn an artist.

I'm going to up the culture slider to 100% during the golden age, so I flog liberalism to Wang for some coin.

Nearly there...

Moscow will be next for a Great Artist then

I turn down another deal

3rd and final spy begins being built

This city is put on an extreme starvation diet. All the farmers are given paint brushes and made to do arty things.

I build a stable here just in case I want to make some cossacks

During the golden age I stat building wealth to support the 100% culture

More war breaks out

I discover military tradition, and go for constitution next.

More wealth is built

Everywhere helps out with wealth building during the golden age

A Great Artist is born in Moscow, Thebes will produce the next GP. I should be able to squeeze out a really thin artist from Memphis as well with all the starving I am doing there.

Wealth again...

So another Great Artist is born in Thebes.

And Memphis will be next thanks to all the starving people there.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Cathy Queen of Culture 2 - Round 9 part 6

Kublai builds Sid's Sushi! OH TEH NOES!!! Maybe he is going to try for a culture win...

Not AGAIN...

Ragnar goes Free Market I think, so I change civics on the last turn of my golden age. Maybe I should have ditched representation as well (don't need any more tech) but it doesn't really matter.

Rags won't open borders yet though

More starvation in Memphis

I'm close to winning now so I build culture here

Wang asks me to stop trading with Kublai. All I have is open borders with him, and he's still in mercantilism as well I think, so I accept the demand.

Looks like everyone has been puttinng up their EPs against me, so I can't see any demographic information now

Wang likes me a bit more after I agreed to stop trading with Kublai

Constitution is finished, I can tech corporation now

I'm getting badly behind in tech. Cannons could really ruin my day

Yawn...

But I throw this tech Ragnar's way to keep Kublai busy

Bad grammar from Rags

He still doesn't want open borders with me. Then next turn he DEMANDS that I open borders... OK

More peace breaks out

But Kublai still has his hands full

I stop starving Memphis now

Because this is the GP situation, Memphis will beat Thebes.

Kublai comes begging again...

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Cathy Queen of Culture 2 - Round 9 part 7

Sorry about the length of this round! I kept playing because I thought I was near a win.

I tech corporation, and go for steel next, just in case

I try and beg some cash off of Willy but he isn't into that idea.

Here's the VC screen...

Willy cancels the Whale deal, so I add a sweetener and renogotiate. He's fine with this offer.

Again...

Beef-oven is born

And I'll get one last GP out from Thebes

Wang wants open borders, I acecpt.

I'm ready to start culture bombing now, Moscow and Novgorod alternately.

End result, Novgorod achieves legendary culture first

And Moscow is just 1 turn away.

So Thebes is nearly there as well, I starve it to run as many artist specialists as I can

I tech steel and reach the Industrial era, which is pretty rare for a cultural victory for me.

Then I just hit end turn a few times

Result:

Don't open this if you don't want to see a frame of the victory movie...

Spoiler :

My 3 culture cities are the best in the world.

Cathy gets the highest rating

It's my lowest scoring game with the 3.17 patch HOF though.

But at least I beat TheMeInTeam's 1920 win!!!

I'll do a summary of the game a bit later on.

Hope you enjoyed this game!

 

[bestje]

Well played and a good write up as well.

here is a question for you, what do you think is the secret to a good write up?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Thanks!

I don't know what the secret to a good write up is. My write-ups are really detailed with loads of screenies because I don't make notes while playing, and am often drunk so I take loads of screenshots and then look at them the next day to work out what the heck I was thinking!

Sisiutil's threads are excllent, I hope he restarts them again soon. More discussion goes on in those threads than in mine but then again he has more viewers! Aelf I rate highly too. Madscientist as well, interesting game ideas. My favourite write up of all time has to be "The code of Hammurabai" by BurN though, that was one of the funniest write ups I have ever read.

 

[Gorrable]

Great game! I really enjoy the massive amounts of detail, especially in culture games, because the game is often won or lost in choices for city builds. Perhaps a screenie every time someone makes a demand is a bit much, though...

I predicted a 1890s victory before reading the final round... a bit off, then.

 

[Stewie0416]

Great game, helped me a lot with my cultural games. Loved the war with Hatty!

 

[Ormur]

I've never seen a triangle war as Wang, Willy and Kublai had between them in the beginning of the segment.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I think it may have had something to do with the AP (Hammy built it).

 

[ParadigmShifter]

OK here's my summary of how the game went:

Early game, I played too quickly, and missed some key things. Most seriously, I didn't get the excellent horse city (only horses on the continent) in time because I overlooked how good it was while exploring. Not as bad, Novgorod was placed in a slightly inferior place missing fish in the BFC (due to not scouting the coast as thoroughly as I should have).

Once I got the horses on line I spammed about 11 or 12 chariots and rushed Hatty's fantastic capital. She had stupidly been building lots of Jewish missionaries and converting my cities before building settlers, which has to be the daftest thing I have ever seen an AI do I think. She got out another settler to a city on the coast, which I also took. Then she built a city on a hill, and I had iron hooked up, she had no metal, so I planned to finish her off with swords.

This went spectacularly badly I should have probably stopped the war after the first failed attack, but instead I carried on. I did get monarchy out of her after I eventually got peace though (after suiciding a great general as well). I needed many more swords than I had built and she whipped about 7 archers which I just gave free promotions to.

So I teched to construction, she founded another city on top of iron in a bad position, which I took immediately on the 2nd DoW, and razed. Then her new capital fell soon after and I was alone on my continent.

Hatty gets a 1/10 rating in this game. She would have got zero if she hadn't built a city on a hill.

I missed Code of Laws for an extra religion and also managed to nearly miss out on philosophy and Taoism by not realising the prereqs for bulbing it properly. But I got it in Novgorod, which had also built the Pyramids during the wars, so it was an ideal candidate for legendary culture.

With the pyramids I just teched up running mainly artists getting a large number of them. I settled 2 in Thebes and 1 in Moscow, and saved the rest for late culture bombs. I got a prophet as well which I used for a golden age which enabled me to change to caste system and pacifism.

Rest of the game was just building culture buildings and defenders to put off the rest of the AI from invading. They were very busy warring amongst themselves though.

A key moment I think was trading for copper to Kublai to build my Pagodas quickly, this really helped.

In the end game, it was a bit of micromanagement ensuring GPs were produced from cities other than the GP farm, due to forocing the people to starve whilst producing artists. I got 2 prophets near the end game, I was saving one for a golden age so when the 2nd arrived I built the Taoist shrine. Then I got an Engineer which I used with the other prophet for a late game golden age which enabled me to run 100% culture for 8 turns.

Then it was just a case of using my culture bombs and waiting a few turns for the win. I think I bombed 9 or 10 times. (Moscow 4 or 5, Novgorod 4, Thebes 1).

I'll give the other AIs a 3/10 rating I think. Their warring really cost them the game and no-one finished anyone off so they were always going up and down the table when cities changed hands.

Thanks to anyone who gave me advice, the "go for liberalism instead of optics" was certainly good advice, I won the lib race and took Nationalism.

Thanks also to TheMeInTeam who played a shadow game, and who showed everyone what I should have done at the beginning. I'm guessing he didn't build the pyramids though which is probably why his win was later than mine.

Special thanks to jesusin who taught me lots about culture games in his excellent HOF thread. He also has an excellent article in the strategy and tips strategy articles forum.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You got a faster time than me because I'm unfamiliar with culture, so I usually just techrace to mass media, beating the AI to those wonders along the way. With that, a cathedral here and there, etc. you'll ultimately win before the AI gets space, and not having those wonders nerfs any AI culture to hell.

I way overteched in this though, because I'm not used to culture and didn't want to get my pants pulled down trying for it. Someone completed apollo and a part or two but with infantry I felt pretty good about my chances of not dying at least.

Congrats, now quickly go beat me in G major 40 also (I very temporarily hold the #1 spot as the only submission, with an 80k some score - 3 hr 3 min UN win), then you can start the next one of these.

 

[PrinzMyshkin]

That's my 3rd reading go on this - last time was about a year ago. Every time, I find it more instructive.

Congrats!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Thanks, don't use this as a guide to early war though

 

[Crusher1]

I chose Cathy not because she is a saucy minx, but because she has non-outstanding traits

Your crazy man - Cathy is a beast.

 

[PrinzMyshkin]

I understand it is far for from imperfect, intentionally though.

So when are you gonna start your next one? I've studided dominatrix and this one from your games.

I've tried to follow monarch student, but there is such a mess, and there is nothing as coherent as this one. I find it more like a show off for people playing at difficulty levels, and argueing more about score and who is gonna teach, than a trying to learn.

Let alone nobody posts the details you do, 'cause they are either bored or consider it trivial.

Quite amuing people who whined so much, never said a word in the end.

Also do you use 3.17 with HOF, or v.21 unofficial patch?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I did start 2 more games, a UN one which I abandoned and an AP one which wasn't going well due to no religion spread and missing stonehenge/the oracle.

It takes a lot of effort to do a write up, they are fun though I've kind of been concentrating on my HoF QM games (2 AP cheese wins on deity in the current GMinor70, currently in last place ), and I really want to have a go at GMajor48 again since there are no entries yet.

I've also got a "legit" Immortal win (i..e. not AP cheese - space race with Darius) but that was marathon speed.

I play all my games with the HoF mod (3.17.001 for BtS).

I only need 11 more civs for QM status and I'm wanting to achieve EQM at Emperor ideally.

 

[PrinzMyshkin]

Jeez sounds like chinese to me.

Good luck with it!