Player Guide

[Edmund Ironside]

Whoever wrote it, did you/how did you test it? After several tries I am at 650 BC, 100%, researching Tyranny, and still need more than 100 turns to get UHV 2. Also, UHV 3 makes UHV 2 even harder by increasing maintenance costs and forcing the research rate down. I haven't even bothered thinking about that one yet (I have three cities - Athens, Mycenae and Pylos. I razed Sparta). I'm hardly the best player around but I didn't think I sucked this badly.

In short, if you think your Athens UHV conditions are OK, please post a game or screenshot showing you winning at Monarch and I will apologise handsomely. Remember, Monarch is the default difficulty. If you tested it on Viceroy, I shall laugh at you cruelly.

It was me, and I won it on the hardest difficulty!


But seriously I tested their functionality more than their practicality. I just made UHVs that I (apparently wrongly) believed would provide the right level of challenge. I did genuinely think it was doable, as Athens often appears overpowered, but maybe bluepotato toned them down. I was more worried about Sparta's UHVs being too hard... However if you can't complete it, and you seem like a pretty good Civ player (better than me anyway), I think we can take it that this UHV needs tweaking.
So in short, no I did not really test it!

How about modifying the UHVs to:
UHV 1: First to discover Drama, Democracy and Engineering.
UHV 2: Build the Oracle, Parthenon, Colossus and Temple of Artemis by 300 BC.
UHV 3: Build 4 Harbors by 400 BC.

Better or still too hard?

What do you think @bluepotato ?

 

[bluepotato]

What do you think @bluepotato ?

I haven't tried the UHV either, but if it's impossible to complete then some changes certainly have to be made. I'll check it tomorrow.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

Well, I was under the weather yesterday. I have some ideas; I'll give them a try. Meanwhile ... there was nothing hard about the next one

(Apparently I suck badly if you won at the hardest level. So as promised I apologise handsomely and shall try it again.)

 

[Autumn Leaf]

RFC GW 2.0 - Sparta - Monarch - Historical Victory in 350 BC - Score 1493, Dan Quayle

UHV 1: This is Sparta!: Control an army of 30 units in 450 BC.
UHV 2: The Peloponnesian War: Be victors in the Peloponnesian War by controlling all of Greece (Peloponnese, Attica, Macedonia, Central Greece, Euboea, Cyclades) by 400 BC.
UHV 3: Spartan hegemony: Have the highest score in 350 BC.

Mycenae was still alive in this game, with its eponymous capital. If Mycenae was still capital in 890 BC, Pylos would flip to me and become my capital but Mycenae would not flip. If either Greece or I captured Mycenae, before then, Pylos would become the new Mycenaean capital and would not flip to me. If Greece held Mycenae in 890 BC, Mycenae would flip to me.

So I did not found Sparta. Instead I waited (moving a few units to better positions). This gave Athens time to capture Mycenae, which flipped to me in 890 BC, bringing four Athenian Phalanxes with it. I then instantly used a detachment of Phalanxes stationed outside Pylos to capture the new Mycenaean capital. This gave me control of the Peloponnese in 890 BC, with plenty of room for my cities to grow, at the cost of a few turns spent in waiting and disorder.

Once I owned Mycenae I moved up to Athens and killed two of the remaining three Athenian Phalanxes for the loss of one of my turncoat Phalanxes. Then I went away until the city reached 2 population, at which time I came back and captured it with a City Raider I & II-promoted Spartiates Hoplite. Mycenae survived in Thebai. Once that city reached 2 population, I added it to my bag.

Since I hadn't used my Settlers, I was able to use one to found Patras in my core and the other to found Chalkis in Euboea. I now had just Macedonia and the Cyclades to settle to complete UHV 2. Since UHV 2 was "by" 400 BC, if I finished it sooner I would thereafter be free of territorial concerns. I could for example liberate Cyclades to an AI player for stability, and blandly allow my northern cities to flip to Macedonia when Alex spawned.

The remaining UHVs were intertwined. If I had the economy to support 30 units, I would likely soon have the highest score. The only tricky part would be ensuring none of my units were in Macedonia's flipzone around 476 BC. That would leave me with a 30-unit army capable of crushing Macedonia after UHV 1 completed in 450 BC. The destruction of Macedonia would give me a score boost before 350 BC.

In 734 BC I had 11 military units and 6 cities. Once I founded two more cities and built an Archer to defend each, I would be nearly 2/3 the way to that massive army! I was losing money at 50% research, but as my cities bulked up I hoped that would change.

Displaying parallels with my Athens games, in 686 BC I razed Independent Ambrakia (Calydon), which was too close to Patras, then in 674 BC Cyrus declared war on me and I made peace with Brennus.

In 644 BC, Pylos completed the Colossus, just edging out Phoenicia, and then in 638 BC Mycenae completed the Lion Gate. I didn't need to build any Wonders for the UHV, but without Sparta stealing their best squares both Mycenae and Pylos were turning into production powerhouses.

Since the Cyclades (Rhodes and that hilly island I think of as Santorini) were covered by foreign culture, in 602 BC I captured Independent Knossos so as to expose Santorini to settlement. The alternative was to declare war on Phoenicia and capture mainland Phoenicus to expose Rhodes. I had a Settler waiting in a Coracle off Santorini. However, in the same year, barbarians took Phoenicus, making Rhodes accessible. I instantly dropped my settler on the latter island instead and founded Rhodos the next turn.

Knossos was the Hellenism Holy City, but as the Labyrinth had not been built I got no extra money from it. However, it did have the Pyramids (free Monuments in every city) so although Knossos is a crappy city until it gets a Harbor, it was worth keeping. Dido had Sailing but wouldn't trade it - probably because of the Great Lighthouse - and it would take me 28 turns to research it. So I gifted Dido my spare Pig in hopes of sweetening her up.

In 572 BC, Mycenae built the Hanging Gardens, which allowed me to dial my research rate up from 30% to 40%. In 566 BC Mycenae popped a Great Scientist; I sent it to Pylos to build an Academy.

In 554 BC I founded Thessalonica in Macedonia, and thus in 548 BC ticked off UHV 2. I instantly gifted Rhodos to Phoenicia and Thessalonica to Celtia - the only civs who would take them. Macedonia would flip Thessalonica soon anyway. This put my temporarily bleeding budget back in the black. My economy was fast approaching the point where I could support the 30 units for UHV 1. I had recently passed Phoenicia to become #1 in score, so I was also on track for UHV 3.

In 536 BC, Nubia popped up and I traded Mythology and Spokes for Herbalism. In 530 BC, Etruria appeared and Phoenicia disappeared. Seems my gift was the last straw for their stability! Rhodos went Barbarian. I loaded a Phalanx into a Coracle and sent him off to recover the defenseless city. Mycenae was churning out Archers to allow me to take my Phalanxes off garrison duty in preparation for the Macedonian spawn. All my cities were pumping out units when they could.

I finally managed to make peace with Cyrus. A couple of turns later, in 512 BC, Julius Caesar popped up to tell me "this means war". Well, he could become a threat someday but for now he was a long way away and Macedonia would be a greater threat sooner. So I thought. In 488 BC, a Roman Galley appeared, threatening my Fish. However it was badly damaged, 0.5 str. I decided to risk sending a 1 str Coracle to beat it up, which it did. Meanwhile, Pylos completed Ashurbanipal's Library. I was recalling my Workers to sanctuary in Mycenae due to the pending Macedonian spawn. I decided to send a couple of my Workers to Crete for the holidays.

In 476 BC, as expected, Alexander popped up to declare war on me. Fortunately I was already building units to meet UHV 1 so I felt no fear. Still, I recalled my Archer from Thebai as that city would soon flip. I was concentrating my military in Mycenae.

In 464 BC, Alexander's army appeared out of the mist NW of Thebai: 5 Companion Cavalry in a lead group, another Companion, 4 Phalanxes, 4 Hoplites and a Swordsman behind them.

In 458 BC, Alexander stormed undefended Thebai - which would have flipped to him this turn anyway! I moved my main army up to the Marble. I was over the required 30 units by now, and had been forced to dial my Research down to 20% to support them. Ouch! That's OK, many of them were cannon fodder that I figured would get used up on Alexander after 450 BC.

[ETA: it's actually still not clear to me whether Thebai flips. I played safe and built my strategy on that assumption however.] [ETA: Verified, Thebai flips.]

Alex sat in Thebai; his main army moved up behind. In 452 BC, I took out the five Companions in Thebai and moved my army into the ruins. If he attacked me, it would cost him dearly; if he retreated, I would follow; and if he tried to outflank me I would run around the mountain and ambush him on the flat.

He attacked. I lost no units, he lost a Swordsman and four Hoplites, leaving a Companion and 4 Phalanxes standing wth their thumbs in their ears. A pair of Swordsmen appeared behind them. I stood my ground, healing up. The Great General Vercingetorix was born in Pylos; I sent him to Mycenae. Meanwhile, UHV 1 got a YES next to it.

Alexander's army withdrew! I still had injured units, but I followed.

Alexander divided his army. The Swordsmen went into the fog; his Companion and 4 Phalanxes turned east, crossing my path, albeit on the other side of a river. I burned all my Axemen, Javelineers and Spearmen to soften them up. Those units could be easily replaced at my current tech level and meantime they were costing too much in support. [ETA: they killed one Phalanx and left the other four units badly injured.] Then I brought in my Spartiates and uninjured Phalanxes to finish the enemy off, losing none of my irreplaceable units.

The bulk of my army that still had movement advanced onto the Sheep outside 2-pop Argos Orestikon, which had an Archer and two Swordsmen defending it. One Phalanx I sent towards undefended Thessalonica, not yet sure what to do with the 1-pop city. It would auto-raze if I took it, but it had lots of potential. Maybe I could leave it until it grew? It had no industry.

In 422 BC my eastern Phalanx arrived outside Thessalonica, perfectly positioned to nab Alexander's Workers. I stormed Argos Orestikon without loss. I moved my army into the town to heal up; I could now see the Roman town Spalatum (Split) in Dalmatia, and where there's a Roman town there are likely to be Legions.

I moved an uninjured Phalanx onto the forested Hill west of Argos Orestikon. Behold! Two Roman Legions and 4 Catapults were on the Hill beyond. I reinforced the forest with more Phalanxes. I also nabbed a Macedonian Worker outside Thessalonica. I sent an Archer towards Thessalonica to box in a second Worker.

Jules's army moved south - onto flat ground, ho ho ho. I had four units on the forest: they destroyed the two Legions and two of the Catapults. One Spartiate and a Phalanx had healed up so I sent them SE, planning to head off the two surviving Catapults if they continued south. My eastern Phalanx nabbed the other Macedonian Worker. Alexander, astonishingly, still refused to talk!

The Catapults moved north, back onto the Hill where I first saw them. That wasn't going to save them! I killed them and moved onto their Hill to have a good look at Spalatum. It was defended by a Legion and an Auxillia. I didn't know what food supply it might have off in the fog, but likely it was growing. I decided to fortify on the Hill and reinforce my detachment as units in Argos Orestikon healed up. As soon as Spalatum hit 2 pop, it would be mine.

Brennus popped up to offer Iron Working for Trade and 195 Gold. I took it, and instantly revolted to Client Kingdoms. Then I looked around for Iron. There was none in my home territory; the only Iron I could see was beneath Spalatum and in a Hill near Argos Orestikon! Now I wanted Spalatum more than ever. My captured Macedonian Workers would build roads to it. I also started work on a Settler earmarked for Larissa, on the Hill beside Thermopylae, to replace Thebai.

In 392 BC the Scythians appeared and we opened borders. I also noticed that Thessalonica now had 2 population, so it was so long, farewell, please don't write to Alexander.

In 386 BC, Spalatum showed 2 population. It was still only defended by one Legion and an Auxillia. I could see reinforcements coming, but they were still a couple of moves away. Time to take out the trash! My first irreplaceable Phalanx attacked - and died, dang it, but then the city was mine. I immediately contacted Jules and he gave me 80 Gold and 2 GPT to make peace.

In 356 BC I founded Larissa, and in 350 BC my Historical Victory arrived.

My Stability was +109; Cities +33, Civics +20, Economy +32, Expansion +6, Foreign +18.

So there I was, the biggest (only) frog left in the Greek pond. I could hop in any direction I wanted. I climbed up to the Lion Gate and stood atop it, waving my sword. "THIS IS SPARTA! COME AND GET IT!"

 

[Autumn Leaf]

RFC GW 2.0 - Athens - Monarch - abandoned game

UHV 1: Ancient Greek Technology and Innovation: Be the first to discover Drama, Democracy and Engineering.
UHV 2: The Wonders of the Ancient World: Build the Oracle, the Parthenon, the Colossus and the Temple of Artemis by 450 BC.
UHV 3: Domination of the Mediterranean trade: Build 7 Harbors by 400 BC.

Spoiler Final score :

I abandoned this game in 644 BC when I saw no chance of achieving UHV 2.

UHV 1: You need to discover a minimum of 21 Techs. Byzantium spawns with Democracy in 286 AD but nobody starts with Drama or Engineering. Also, you need Democracy for the Temple of Artemis. Democracy should therefore be your first goal, and you need just 8 Techs to nail it down. The beeline is Herbalism -> Priesthood (Oracle) -> Alphabet -> Writing -> Code of Laws -> Tyranny -> Citizenship -> Democracy (Temple of Artemis), but there are other early techs you should pick up along the way: Aesthetics (Parthenon), Metal Casting (Colossus), Storytelling, Iron Working, Mathematics, Construction, Monotheism, Record Keeping, Citizenship. After that play it by ear.

UHV 2: You need to discover as for UHV 1, at least as far as Democracy and Asthetics. This is where I failed.

UHV 3: You need at least 7 coastal cities. What these will be depends on what you starting situation is, but your first target is Mycenae, if it exists. You need to dominate, kill or block Sparta early or you will get bogged down in an endless turf war later. Knossos, if it survives, is food-limited but will be the Hellenism Holy City (don't bother with it until you have a Great Priest available though, unless it already has the Labyrinth). [ETA: I didn't notice until now but in this game Mycenae was the Holy City.] AI Mycenae likes building Pylos, in the southern Peloponnese, and may build Thermopylae in the north instead of Thebai.

I built Athens on the spot in 908 BC and started an Archer. The Warrior on the Galley came ashore to garrison Athens. The Phalanxes all headed for Mycenae. Technology: Herbalism.

Theres a nasty gotcha in the early game: Mycenae is in Sparta's core. If it's not the Mycenaean capital, it flips to Sparta in 890 BC! In my first attempt, I captured Mycenae in 896 BC and then both the city and my whole army flipped to Leonidas. So don't cross into the Peloponnese until after the flip. (This goof did inspire an evil starting plan for my Spartan game.)

I took Mycenae in 890 BC and moved my army in. Some were able to move SW, onto the Forest adjacent to Sparta. I buffed my veterans with City Raider I. Sure enough, the bulk of Leonidas' units headed north, ending on the Sheep west of Mycenae!

In 884 BC I declared war and captured Sparta. The city auto-razed. I moved a couple of Phalanxes that hadn't attacked back into Mycenae against an expected Spartan counter-attack, but Leonidas' army moved west and south onto the Marble instead, clearly trying to reach Pylos. I moved all but one injured Phalanx south from Mycenae and blocked the roads. He didn't attack my blockers, but moved south onto the Stone. I didn't like the odds of attacking him there, so instead I put my whole army on the Sheep NE of Pylos, figuring to throw them at the Spartiates Hoplite and Javelin in Pylos next turn and finish the war regardless of losses. Sure enough, his army moved onto the Copper. In 886 BC I stormed Pylos and the Peloponnesian War was over. My losses had been light, a couple of Phalanxes. Cheap enough. My Stability was +9.

Without Sparta cramping them, Pylos and Mycenae would be able to cover most of the Peloponnese. I could eventually build Patras to nail it down. All three would be Harbor cities (UHV 3), whereas Sparta was landlocked.

Mycenae still had a city to my north. The shape of the cultural boundary showed it had to be Thermopylae. Time to finish Agamemmnon in his thermal bath in the Olive grove at the Hot Gates.

The city auto-razed on capture. Rats. On the other hand, my Stability was now -2, so I probably didn't want another unstable city just yet. Plus, Central Greece was going to be in the Macedonian core and would probably flip away! Time to focus on building up the three cities I had. A core city in Euboea SE of the Pig would probably be my first new settlement. Meantime I needed to focus on Wonders and research. I had three good cities in hand; there was no need to increase my expenses with more cities. I brought the army home to garrison duties.

I gave Mycenae's Fish to Athens. My capital needed to grow fast; it would be my research hub, and the clock was running. When Herbalism arrived I switched to Priesthood, for the Oracle. In 812 BC I popped a GM in Athens. He bulbed Metal Casting, giving me access to Forges and the Colossus. As my cities built Forges I set them to building Grocers or wonders and changed their free Merchants to Engineers. I had the feeling an Engineer or two might be handy to rush Wonders later on.

In 806 BC, Brennus of the Celts popped up to declare war on me. However he seemed far enough away that this was likely to be a phoney war.

My main problem was that nobody would trade useful technologies to me. I buttered them up with coin and techs so that I was no longer their worst enemy and then got "We don't want to start trading away this technology just yet." Grrr. I managed to extract Alphabet from Solomon, but he refused to part with Priesthood (Oracle) or Writing (Ashurbanipal's Library, which I didn't need but would be happy to snag if it didn't cost me a UHV).

I finally discovered Priesthood and in 734 BC, Mycenae built the Oracle. I took Mathematics, for the +50% chopping bonus and the Hanging Gardens. Athens started on Luxor; I queued the Gardens in Mycenae behind the Colossus.

In 716 BC, Suppilliumas offered Fortification +10 Gold for Trade. Done. In 710, Mycenae built the Colossus and also popped a Great Merchant. It could only bulb Currency, which helped me not at all. I sent it to Athens to wait and eventually settled it there to stop my budget hemorhaging.

In 680 BC, Athens built Luxor and I made peace with Brennus. in 674 BC Cyrus popped up and declared war. In 668, Mycenae built the Hanging Gardens and my army killed an independent city that had popped up north of the Gulf.

In 650 BC, Athens popped a Great Priest. It wanted to bulb Monotheism. I hastily traded with Solomon for Monotheism, and now the GP could bulb Code of Laws! So in 650 BC, with 200 years (about 30 turns) left to run, I was still Tyranny (22), Citizenship (24), Aesthetics (27) and Democracy (38) or 111 turns from UHV 2. Couldn't be done.

Here is where I abandoned the game. Because I'm stubborn I picked it up the next day to play it to a conclusion. I'm skipping details here to hit the high points.

In 578 BC, 6 turns from Tyranny, Mycenae popped a GP. I could build the Labyrinth or bulb ... Tyranny. I did the latter. Athens trained a Settler for Chalkis (#4), needed to build 7 Harbors. In 572, Pylos trained a Settler for Patras (#5). In 518 BC I founded Rhodos (#6). In 512 BC, Julius Caesar declared war. In 506 BC I discovered Citizenship. In 482 BC I built Soli (#7).

None of these towns would get Harbors as I didn't have Sailing! They focused on Forges. Mycenae built Archers for them. It also started building Phalanxes.

In 476 BC, Alexander declared war on me. I waited, then moved my Phalanxes up to the forest west of Thermopylae. In 458 BC, 5 Companion Cavalry came round the mountain and 4 Phalanxes, 4 Hoplites, a Companion and a Swordsman reached the forest redoubt. Reinforcements hurrying to the front, plus three Phalanxes from the redoubt killed the 5 Companions. Alexander's Phalanxes and Companion just stood there interturn. His Hoplites and Swordsman headed NE. If Alex had left his Hoplites there and moved his Phalanxes away I might have attacked in 452 BC. As it was my best Phalanx showed only a 25% chance of winning.

In 452 BC I discovered Aesthetics, just 10 Turns to Democracy. However ... wait ... in 446 BC UHV 2 was still "Not yet"? Well OK, I queued up the Parthenon in Mycenae, stacked on the hammers till the city was starving but could finish the Wonder in 4 turns. Tweaked my science output to the max. Democracy, 8 turns.

440 BC: UHV 2: NO. I had come far closer than I expected, but it was still Game Over ...

Given how close I finally came, perhaps if I did a few things better? As I have said before, I usually don't post my failures - just the instructive ones. I might try this start again sometime to see if I was just having a bad day.

 

[Edmund Ironside]

Just to be clear I have not won the Athens game at any difficulty level yet!
When I create the next UHVs for a Civ I will modify Athens to be slightly easier.
Hopefully bluepotato will make the change to Israel's starting units, replacing one of the warriors with an archer seems reasonable.
Anyway I always enjoy reading your player guides, they inspire me to keep writing UHVs for the game. Might be able to do a few from November onwards.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

A second Settler at start would go a long way to fix Athens. As my failed game shows, Athens's main issue is a slow start. I was able to ramp up research massively in the late game and compress those forecast 111 turns into about 40 turns (still too many to win). If I could have settled Chalkis earlier, it would have lousy production but with a Harbor (the importance of discovering/trading for early Sailing is also clear from the failed game) Chalkis would be excellent for reseach. It would also save me having to train a Settler for it.

Another option, better for the AI, would be to have an Independent Chalkis spawn a few turns earlier, with an Archer or Javelineer to defend it, then flip it. AI Athens would not have time to destroy it before it flipped. Modern Chalkis sits on a Mycenaean site (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcis).

ETA: Oh, LOL. I discovered Democracy in 458 BC. I queued the Temple of Artemis in Mycenae and ... wait ... 5 turns? No Great Engineer on hand to help? Missed it by that much!

 

[Autumn Leaf]

RFC GW 2.0 - Athens - Monarch - Historical Victory in 152 BC - Score 2527, Dan Quayle

UHV 1: First to discover Drama, Democracy and Engineering.
UHV 2: Build the Oracle, Parthenon, Colossus and Temple of Artemis by 450 BC.
UHV 3: Build 7 Harbors by 400 BC.

UHV 1: You need to discover a minimum of 21 Techs. Byzantium spawns with Democracy in 286 AD but nobody starts with Drama or Engineering. Also, you need Democracy for the Temple of Artemis. Democracy should therefore be your first goal, and you need just 8 Techs to nail it down. The beeline is Herbalism -> Priesthood (Oracle) -> Alphabet -> Writing -> Code of Laws -> Tyranny -> Citizenship -> Democracy (Temple of Artemis), but there are other early techs you should pick up along the way: Aesthetics (Parthenon), Metal Casting (Colossus), Storytelling, Iron Working, Mathematics, Construction, Monotheism, Record Keeping, Citizenship. After that play it by ear.

UHV 2: You need to discover as for UHV 1, at least as far as Democracy and Asthetics.

UHV 3: You need at least 7 coastal cities. What these will be depends on what you starting situation is, but your first target is Mycenae, if it exists. You need to dominate, kill or block Sparta early or you will get bogged down in an endless turf war later. Knossos, if it survives, is food-limited but will be the Hellenism Holy City (don't bother with it until you have a Great Priest available though, unless it already has the Labyrinth). AI Mycenae likes building Pylos, in the southern Peloponnese, and may build Thermopylae in the north instead of Thebai.

Athens UHV 2 is the toughest UHV I have encountered so far in RFC-GW. I had to restart several times due to missing it. The main issue is the slow start, as Athens starts with a single Settler (Sparta starts with two). Although research ramps up significantly in the late game, you're on the back foot most of the way. This start was particularly tricky since so many of my neighbours were either belligerent or barbarian, and the others were reluctant to trade key technologies ("We don't want to start trading away this technology just yet").

Theres a nasty gotcha in the early game: Mycenae is in Sparta's core. If its not the Mycenaean capital, it flips to Sparta in 890 BC! In my first attempt, I captured Mycenae in 896 BC and then both the city and my whole army flipped to Leonidas. So don't cross into the Peloponnese until after the flip.

908 BC: I landed my Warrior on my stack and sent the Galley SE. Instead of building Athens on the spot, I put my Settler, Hiereia and Workers to sleep. My Phalanxes all moved onto the Silver. I set Research to Herbalism. I met Leonidas but did not open borders with him.

902 BC: A Mycenaean Capped Ram got in among my Sheep. I detached a Phalanx to shear it. My other Phalanxes moved up to Mycenae's walls. My Galley met Solomon, bribed him 20 Gold, and opened borders. Since I had no cities we couldn't trade technologies.

896 BC: My Phalanxes slept. My detached Phalanx rejoined the army, now wearing ram's horns. I went into the WB and renamed him "Achilles". My Galley met Suppiluliuma, bribed him 20 Gold, and opened borders. Since I had no cities yet, we couldn't trade technologies. My Workers moved W onto the Sheep.

890 BC: My army smashed its way into Mycenae, making it my capital. It was perfect, and in this start it was even the Hellenism Holy City. Four Phalanxes passed through it onto a forested Hill N of Sparta. I could see Leonidas's army camped inside his 1-pop capital. I was able to do this because his cultural border had imploded.

Before doing anything else (to make sure religion didn't get in the way) I contacted Solomon and traded Logging and Animal Husbandry for Alphabet. This was cheaper than the default trade he'd offered (Mythology and Pottery). He wouldn't trade Priesthood or Writing because "We don't want to start trading away this technology just yet". I also contacted Suppiluliuma, who had Herbalism and Fortification, but again "We don't want to start trading away this technology just yet". Grrr. There was no reason I could see why he would not want to trade Herbalism! I know from previous attempts that the only other AI civ on the map at this time was Elam, far away to the east, beyond masses of barbarians.

I now settled Athens on the spot and spread Hellenism there, then revolted to Hellenism. My stacked Workers started work on a pasture for the now gravid Sheep.

884 BC: five Spartan Phalanxes moved up to the Sheep outside Mycenae. Leonidas kept two Spartiates Hoplites and a Settler in Sparta. I attacked Sparta. My first attack killed one Spartiates Hoplite, my second attack killed the other. Cheap! "Tegea" auto-razed as I entered it. I put three Phalanxes in Mycenae, left three on the forest.

878 BC: Leonidas attacked Mycenae! He lost four Phalanxes to kill one and seriously injure the other two in the city, but he was left with just one redlined Phalanx. I promoted several Phalanxes (City Attack I and II, yummy), which also largely healed them. Achilles came out and killed the remaining Spartan Phalanx, plus went on and captured a Mycenaean Worker in the next square. Four Phalanxes advanced on Pylos, defended by a Spartiates Hoplite and a Javelineer.

872 BC: I moved my Phalanxes onto the Sheep above Pylos.

866 BC: Mycenae came out of disorder. The Worker (former Settler) from Sparta and the Worker Achilles had captured now stacked and started a Pasture for Mycenae's Sheep. My first (non-Veteran but uninjured) Phalanx at Pylos died; the second (also non-Veteran and uninjured) killed the Javelineer, and the third (Veteran but injured) killed the Spartiate and captured the city. The Great General Khalid ibn al-Walid was born in Mycenae, the first time I've seen an Athenian GG so early. I put him to sleep for now. For the loss of two Phalanxes, I now controlled all of Greece south of Thermopylae.

Ah yes, Thermopylae. Thermopylae was Agamemnon's new capital and last city. As a capital, if Agamamenon survived until 476 BC, the city would not flip to Alexander, but its defenses would be a joke; Alexander would just walk into it. It was food-poor and would take a long time to grow, if it ever did, and if I captured it at 1 pop, it would just auto-raze. Agamemnon had Metal Casting and Fortification and was willing to make peace, but he wouldn't throw a tech into the bargain. If I made peace with him then the best I could hope for was, "We don't want to start trading away this technology just yet". The city was just far enough away that if Agamemnon collapsed, it would probably not culture-flip to me.

For the time being I settled for moving a Phalanx north from Mycenae to threaten him. By 860 BC I could see that he only had a Javelineer defending the city. My Phalanx would eat that for lunch. However, I calculated that I actually did not need Central Greece. I had no shortage of places to settle beyond Alexander's reach, and while Agamemnon survived he might yet offer useful options. He could live. For now.

Things were peaceful until 806 BC, when Brennus declared war. But he was a long way away and I still had five Phalanxes. In 794, Athens popped a GM who could bulb Metal Casting (Colossus). Done. I queued up Forges for each city after whatever it was building right now. I also revolted to Organised Religion; I had no Monuments yet, didn't need the happiness, and 25% off building time was worth having.

In 764 I discovered Priesthood (Oracle) and switched to Writing, which was useful for both Aesthetics (Temple of Artemis) and Democracy (Parthenon). I set each city to build a workshop after its Forge, and a Wonder after that - the Oracle for Mycenae, Luxor for Athens, and the Colossus for Pylos. Mycenae built the Oracle in 728 BC and I chose Mathematics (for the Hanging Gardens).

In 704 BC Mycenae popped a GS. He could only bulb Writing, which was 1 turn away. I sent him to Athens to wait a turn to see what he would be able to do after I discovered Writing.

In 698 BC, I discovered Writing and My GS bulbed Celestial Navigation, which was a necessary step towards Sailing for UHV 3. Pylos built the Colossus.

I noticed that Thebai had reached 2 population. Time to die, Agamemnon! I sent Achilles with a couple of other Phalanxes to "take care" of it. But meanwhile I traded with him: Trade for Fortification. I saw Solomon had Monotheism but didn't like me enough to trade it. So I gifted him Pottery, then swapped Mythology, Herbalism, Masonry and Spokes for Monotheism and 10 Gold. A poor trade, but I needed Monothesim and didn't have time left to research it. I revolted to Vassalage and Temple Economy. I put two Priests and a scientist in every city. with luck I would be able to bulb Code of Laws and Aesthetics and build the Labyrinth. I set Sailing as my next goal.

In 692 BC I declared war on Agamemnon and captured his Worker. He died in his bath in the Olive grove at Thermopylae the next turn. That turn I also made peace with Brennus.

In 674, Cyrus popped up to declare war. Mycenae built the Hanging Gardens, Athens built Luxor.

In 668 BC I opened borders and gifted Arrowheads to Brennus to butter him up.

In 662 BC, Pylos popped a GP, who bulbed Code of Laws.

In 650 BC I took stock. Conclusion: I was considerably better off than I had been in a previous game. I might even win this one.

In 644, Athens popped a GP, who bulbed 1054 for Tyranny.

In 626 BC, Mycenae trained a Settler for Chalkis and Pylos one for Patrae. I destroyed the Independent city of Ambrakia (Calydon)

In 614 BC I discovered Sailing. I founded Chalkis and queued up a Forge and a Harbor.

In 608 BC I discovered Tyranny. I founded Patrae and queued up a Forge and a Harbor.

In 596 Mycenae popped a GP, who bulbed 1058 toward Aesthetics. I reset my research to Aesthetics (4), Citizenship (12) and Democracy (25). I decided to make Harbor #7 in Anatolia. I sent Achilles and another Phalanx to remove Sfard's culture from the chosen site.

In 590 BC, Pylos built Ashurbanipal's Library. In 584 BC, I razed Sfard. In 578 BC I founded Phaselis in Anatolia. In 572 BC I discovered Aesthetics, yay! I queued up the Parthenon in Athens, because where else?

In 530 BC Lars Porsenna popped up and traded Archery for Mythology and Polytheism. Athens finally popped a GS, who bulbed Cartography. I built the Cothon in Pylos.

In 518 BC, Athens built the Parthenon. Three down, one to go - and I was now researching Democracy!

In 512 BC Julius Caesar declared war. Oh, well. Then a GS gave me Calendar, so I queued up the Mausoleum in Athens.

In 476 BC, surprise! Here came Alexander. I was a little weak militarily but I had gathered my Phalanxes together in Mycenae. Time to play ball! Mycenae went full military, a Phalanx every other turn. The other cities contributed every so often. The Archer in Thermopylae took to his heels.

In 470 BC, I completed my 7th Harbor and ticked off UHV 3. In other news, I also discovered Democracy and started the Temple of Artemis in Mycenae - 4 turns, eating from the Granary? Line ball!

In 458 BC, Alexander stormed defenseless Thermopylae with six Companion Cavalry. I counter-attacked, killing all six for no loss. Most of my units ended up on the saddle between the Peaks, blocking Alexander's advance, but one Phalanx was left stranded in the town, meat for Alexander's main army which was standing on the other side of the town.

My stranded Phalanx killed a Swordsman but then went down to a Hoplite. Only the Hoplites attacked. I risked one counter-attack with an uninjured Phalanx, killing one Hoplite, but after that I had to stand my ground.

In 446 BC, Mycenae completed the Temple of Artemis. I checked my UHVs. UHV 2: YES. Finally (barely). Now I just had to get UHV 1, for which the next step was to defeat Alexander. That might take me a while; despite my destruction of his horsies he still had the military edge on me. The only thing that saved me was my strong defensive position in the pass. Fortunately Mycenae was now free to pump out Phalanxes again. I could quickly replace my losses; Alexander couldn't.

Alexander moved his Phalanxes SW, trying to flank me.

Nubia popped up to offer me Horse Domestication for ... Boat Building and 200 Gold. I counter-offered with Boat Building, Spokes and Mythology. he added 40 Gold and his Map. Deal.

Thermopylae's culture stopped me from running around the south side of the mountain to kill Alexander on the flat plain. However, my units had healed up a bit. I lost one Phalanx; the occupying Hoplites died; Thermopylae was mine again and the enveloping culture vanished. One of Alexander's Phalanxes bit the dust. The balance had tipped: I still had four Phalanxes, he had just three and a couple of Swordsman.

Alexander's army retreated north. I promoted my units and followed. Thermopylae's Archer reclaimed his favourite seat on what was left of the town walls.

428 BC: I checked the odds, shook my head and decided to move north rather than attack the retreating enemy.

422 BC: Athens popped a GE. Alexander's two Swordsmen suicided on my Phalanxes. His three Phalanxes continued north onto the Sheep outside Argos Orestikon. I checked the odds and let them go; there was no chance of winning any attack on them. I pulled my Phalanxes back into Thermopylae to heal. Mycenae was pumping out new Phalanxes; the next round would not be so even!

I brought Khalid ibn al-Walid to Thermopylae and added him to one of my Phalanxes (not Achilles). As my Phalanxes finished healing I moved them onto the Iron near Argos Orestikon.

In 374 BC I was up to 10 Phalanxes. That should be more than enough to finish Alexander. Meanwhile he had brought his Phalanxes and a Swordsman out onto the Sheep. To taunt me? Nope, nope nope; those sheep were covered by Forest, +50% defence! Even Khalid only had 20.9% chance of winning! I grinned and moved four Phalanxes NE across the river, headed for the other Sheep Hill.

Alexander advanced SE toward Thermopylae! I moved two Phalanxes into the city, then advanced the other eight up to the walls of Argos Orestikon.

362 BC: Alexander's army moved south. Time to take out the trash. Achilles and Khalid each destroyed an Archer, a Phalanx destroyed a Swordsman, and just like that Alexander was myth.

The rest is mostly research.

In 338 BC I completed Olympic Park and received a long Golden Age.

I eventually cleared Crete of Sea People and captured Knossos.

In 206 BC, Rome received a Conquerors event on Athens. Stacks of three Legions appeared in Chalkis and outside Patrae, and a stack of two Legions in the north near the Iron. This caused some pertubation as the Legions ignored movement restrictions and had two movement points, so although the ones in the south went into cities and got nobbled quickly by concentration of overwhelming force, the ones in the north were able to run rings around my Phalanxes and stayed on the loose till they made the mistake of attacking well-defended Argos Orestikon. They pillaged my Iron and threatened several weakly defended cities. Chalkis and Patrae were devastated. It took me till 164 BC to quell the intruders.

In the end the demos of Athens and Mycenae stands triumphant, rejecting all aggressors! We shall rebuild, rearm, and then we shall deliver woe to all our enemies!

 

[Edmund Ironside]

So thus far any main recommendations regarding UHVs?
Hardest 2 would appear to be Minoa and Athens. Worried that Minoa may be even harder now that bluepotato has removed the Tanis cheese it strategy. Though I don't know how I can make Minoa easier without entirely changing the UHVs.
Any UHVs which you consider too easy?
I think I might start working on Scythia UHV. Maybe this weekend, if not, then next weekend.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

Sparta felt pretty easy. It was kind of relaxing after banging my head on Athens; like Assyria, they are a wonderful war machine - as long as you don't hinder yourself by founding Sparta. In Alexander and Julius Caesar, Sparta faces strong opponents. If you wanted to hobble Sparta a bit, the obvious target is UHV 2, "The Peloponnesian War: Be victors in the Peloponnesian War by controlling all of Greece (Peloponnese, Attica, Macedonia, Central Greece, Euboea, Cyclades) by 400 BC." I got that one quite early, 582 BC, and having ticked it off, I was able to wage war unfettered by territorial worries. The real Spartans were not so lucky. If UHV 2 was "in 400 BC" it would be more historical and give the player more balls to juggle.

Athens UHV 2 is almost absurdly hard (for me at least). My stunt of waiting to settle Athens until I controlled Mycenae meant my capital was central and could focus on military matters while Athens and Pylos focused on research. (Different starts might require different choices.) Playthroughs obviously display survivor bias, since the focus is on "how to win" not "look how many times I lost"! (I haven't even mentioned the time my Phalanxes roared in on Sparta and all four of them died without taking out a single defender; instant rereoll in that game.) On occasion I had to backtrack dozens of moves to recover from the fallout from some poor decision. However, it's mainly an issue of a slow start. I think giving Athens a second Settler or spawning Chalkis as an Independent a couple of turns before 908 BC would go a long way toward making Athens UHV 2 "tough but fair".

I will replay Minoa once the bruises Athens left on my ego subside. I suspect Minoan UHV 1 may beat me unless I find new cheese to replace the Tanis exploit. The lack of early food in Knossos is a real hindrance. You start Stagnant, because 0 Health + 1 Population = 1 lost Food and thus no surplus. You don't even have Animal Husbandry, so the Cow helps you not at all - and since it's on a Hill it only gives 2 food even with a Pasture. To build a Winery to get 2 Food from the Wine you need Amphora (120), 8 techs away. To get 2 Food from Coast tiles you need a Harbor, which requires Sailing (80), 5 techs away. For UHV 1, Seven techs are required, with initial research times: The Wheel (14), Spokes (24), Trade (28), Celestial Navigation (31), Alphabet (39), Mathematics (72), Calendar (102). To trade techs you need Cuneiform (37), which isn't even in the main line of research (it requires Trade). If bluepotato allowed visible resources under City squares to provide some benefits, Knossos might get 1 Health from the Cow we are forced to settle on - but that's not currently available to us. It takes 43 turns to build a settler, so building a second city that has Food is no option. Using a free win to take over a barb city (Tanis is the nearest) is the only sane option.

ETA: The only realistic colonies are Akrotiri (Santorini) or Rhodos in Minoa's core. As mentioned, training a Settler in early Knossos takes at least 43 turns, so taking Tanis and using it to spawn a Settler is still a faster, better option than anything even vaguely "historical".

ETA ETA: Missed the Minoan UHV by 30 turns.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

RFC GW 2.0 - Minoa - Monarch - Historical Victory in 998 BC - Score 1153, Dan Quayle

UHV 1: The Legend of Atlantis: Discover Calendar by 1400 BC.
UHV 2: The Might of King Minos: Be first in score in 1200 BC.
UHV 3: The Palace of Knossos: Make Knossos the #1 Cultural city in 1000 BC.

As in my previous game I settled on the spot in 2690 BC, despite wasting the Cow resource. The game checks the city location for UHV 3, so if you do not build Knossos on the Cow, you will fail the UHV. I had just 102 turns to discover Calendar. I set Knossos to build an Apothecary. I started researching The Wheel in hopes of getting the free Scientist. It's on the beeline to Calendar, so I needed it anyway.

I loaded my initial Warrior aboard my Ereta and sailed around Crete, headed for Egypt where I could see Tanis' red border. Tanis was population 3, defended by two Town Guards. In a previous version of the game, Tanis was a supercity with huge food sources. It has been nerfed - in part due to my demonstration of how exploitable it was. It's still the nearest and best town to give Minoa a leg up.

In 2630 BC I killed one of Tanis' Town Guards. Meanwhile Knossos founded Hellenism and I instantly revolted to that.

In 2600 BC I captured Tanis. Cleopatra gave me a smiling welcome to Egypt. I started building a Monument to bring the second ring into play. For now, my Warrior promoted to Combat I & II and fortified in the town. My Ereta went back to Crete to pick up my Worker to take him on a grand tour of the tribal villages in the Mediterranean.

In 2480 BC, Tanis came out of disorder; I set it to work the Plains tile east and the Flood Plains south, to get the Monument as fast as possible while also growing. My Worker popped a Scout near the site of future Carthage. I had hoped for a technology, but oh well. My Worker headed back to the boat to continue scouting Mediterraean shores; my Scout headed S, planning to turn SE to do a circuit below Egypt then head up into the Middle East to do some ambassador work - if he was not nobbled by barbs on the way. Babylon would spawn with Cuneiform around 1890 BC, which might save me having to research it myself!

In 2465 BC, Hiram popped up to say hello. In 2450 I noticed a pink boundary pop up NE from Knossos. Clearly Hiram had founded Phoenicus on the SW corner of Anatolia. That spelled trouble for my colonisation plans; at the first border pop it would envelope Rhodes in its culture. I would be left with only Akrotiri. Like Rhodos, it gets Athens' Fish, but it misses out on the Dye on Cyprus. There was a small chance I could nab Cyprus before Byblos' culture enveloped the Copper.

In 2360 I discovered The Wheel. No Scientist. I set Animal Husbtandy as my next target even though it wasn't on the beeline. I popped another Scout in Spain. I sent him north: maybe he could find some villages before the barbs nobbled him.

In 2300 BC I built an Apothecary in Knossos, which gave me some Health so the city could finally grow! I started on a Town Guard.

In 2285, Tanis reached size 3, built a Monument and popped its borders. I set it to building a Settler - 22 turns. My Worker landed back in Crete, ready to start Pasturing the Cow someday. He started building Roads.

In 2240, Hiram opened borders. My Ereta reached the Bosphorus. I cast covetous eyes on Troy, but it was defended by a Spearman. No chance.

In 2180 BC, my Scout popped Mining from a village in Nubia.

In 2090 I discovered Animal Husbandry and my Worker, who had just Quarried the Marble, sprinted back toward the Cow.

In 1990 BC, Tanis trained a Settler. I now faced a major conundrum: where to settle. I couldn't go too far afield or distance would cripple my economy. The site needed ready food for fast growth, trade for fast research, and should not be too exposed to barbs. My original plan had been to settle the Cyclades, but Phoenicus' culture now covered Rhodes. Cleopatra had settled a city that stole tiles from the west end of the Nile delta, reducing the value of putting a city there - and besides, it was too exposed to barbs. If I went for the Peloponnese, Mycenae would flip it in 1600 BC; if I went for Attica or Central Greece, Mycenae would attack it. In the end I went for Athens! I set Knossos to building Workboats to put my Fish resources into use.

In 1950 I met Urukagina of Uruk. I also discovered Spokes and set my beeline for Calendar. In 1930 I met Kindattu of Elam. I noted that Jericho was rubble, but Phoenicia had built Damascus - the first time I've seen that city in RFC-GW. I gifted my spare Cow to Cleopatra, who was Annoyed. I couldn't risk war with her.

In 1870 I met Hammy and traded Trade (5 turns away) and Hunting for Masonry. However, it was the old "We don't want to start trading this technology away" on Copper, Arrowheads and Cuneiform. Cuneiform would have been very handy.

In 1810, Cuneiform came on the market and I traded Hammy Agriculture, over half my Treasury (160 Gold) and the pound of flesh nearest my heart. I revolted to Oligarchy and set Scientists where I could, but meanwhile my new potential tech trading partners were all "We don't want to start trading this technology away".

In 1710 Kindattu took Boat Building for Warrior Code. Hatshepsut was up to Cautious with me. Hiram had gone down in a welter of Bablylonian swords a turn or two earlier. Rhodes was now clear, if only I had a Settler for it! I put Athens to work on one.

In 1650 I got Polytheism from Cleopatra for Boat Building. In 1630 a setback took 31 beakers from my Celestial Navigation research.

In 1610 BC, Athens trained a Settler - but Rhodes had now disappeared beneath Independent Phoenicus' culture. Rats. I put the Settler in my Ereta, just in case.

In 1600 BC, Mycenae spawned and declared war on me. Athens was building Javelineers, but if Agamemnon came for me now he could easily take Athens.

In 1580 BC I discovered Celestial Navigation. I was 16 turns from Calendar. Knossos popped a GM; he could bulb Currency, which would be nice, but I didn't need it. A GS would have gven me Writing! Instead I settled him in Knossos for the extra food and revenue. Mycenae sent an Eqeta toward Athens. I brought my City Guard from Knossos to Athens and promoted both him and Athens' City Guard to Warrior.

The Equeta moved onto the Silver. I checked my Javelineer's odds: 30%. I risked it - and won! Double promotion next turn, City Garrison I & II. Knossos trained a Javelineer; I dropped it into Athens - two Javelineers, two Warriors. Agamamemnon was coming for me again with a Chariot and two Eqeta.

In 1540 BC, Tanis popped a GS. An Eqeta moved onto Athens' Silver; Calendar was now 14 turns away! The Chariot and the other Eqeta went NE, probably angling for the Marble and to threaten my Worker who was hastily chopping the plains Forest for hammers. I couldn't risk another 30% attack so I stood my ground.

In 1530 BC all three enemy units joined up on the Marble. The Silver mine had not been razed. I quickly put it back in service - 11 turns to Calendar! My Worker bolted into Athens. Meanwhile I noticed that Cleo had overtaken me in score. That would need fixing by 1200. I was also falling behind her in Culture (Knossos versus Wasit).

In 1520 BC, the other Mycenaean Chariot moved onto the Silver. I trained another Javelineer in Athens.

In 1500 BC I noticed that three units were standing on the flat where the Forest had been. No terrain defensve bonus! However, the odds were still only 26% (Javelineer versus Chariot). I stood my ground.

In 1490 BC, my European Scout snuck into Athens on a moonless night. He wasn't worth much in a fight but might delay an attacker. Agamemnon would now talk, but wanted Athens for peace. Nuh-uh.

In 1476 BC, Agamemnon lost both Chariots and an Eqeta attacking Athens; his remaining Eqeta was injured. I lost my Veteran Javelineer and the other two were badly injured; the Warriors were fine. Agamemnon stopped talking to me again! Never saw that happen before.

In 1452 BC, Agamemenon made peace without additional conditions, which removed his Eqeta from my territory. I was two turns from Calendar. Cleo's Culture covered Tanis' Wheat.

In 1436 BC, Athens built the Hanging Gardens. I was also top of the ladder again in score. I discovered Calendar! Yay! I slid my Culture to 100%; Knossos needed to overtake Wasit by 1000 BC. Also, 1200 BC would mark the arrival of the Sea People. I was militarily very weak and would probably need to abandon Athens and Tanis to defend Knossos. I set 4 Merchants in Tanis to try for a GM to help Knossos grow.

Over the next few turns I began moving Javelineers into Knossos. I put Warriors on Santorini and Rhodes to see if that would prevent Sea People from spawning there. [ETA: It did.] I moved my Settler to Rhodes: if Phoenicus' Culture wavered, I would settle on the island. I traded Boat Building to Suppiliumas for Arrowheads so I could build Archers. Somewhere in here my Culture recovered the Wheat near Tanis.

In 1340 BC I built Ashurbanipal's Library in Knossos and started an Anaktora, with an Archer to follow.

In 1300, the Hittites took Phoenicus (now Mira). Rhodes was uncovered! I quickly founded Rhodos.

In 1296 BC, Egypt's Score dropped from just over 700 to 671. Ramses clearly lost a city, somewhere off in the mist. In 1268 BC, he traded Copper Working to me. In 1220 BC, the Assyrians popped up and we opened borders.

In 1196 BC, I ticked off UHV 2 ... and three Sea People appeared near Tanis. Interturn, two moved toward Tanis and one away. Sea People took Mira. Two Sea People appeared in Central Greece between the Peaks.

The Sea People did not attack Tanis; instead they started pillaging. SOP and SOB! I checked the odds: The one unfortunately and obviously headed for my Mines south of the River was 30%; the other was on Grassland and not across a River and ... 56%. My Javelineer killed that one and darted back into the city in the same turn. Athens popped a GM: to Knossos with him! Three Sea People were standing NE of Athens. The two in the north were headed my way. Six appeared at the E end of Crete.

In 1172 BC, Selinus (Mira) flipped to me. I disbanded the city and sent the Ereta to pick up the Archer. I had no hope of keeping that city and it would cramp Rhodos in future. I sent the Archer to Athens, where the Sea People were now busily committing rapine and pillage instead of attacking the walls. A Javelineer from Ur killed the Sea People menacing Tanis' improvements.

In 1164 BC, two Sea People died at Athens and four at Knossos, without loss to me. Archers really are indispensable when it comes to defending against Sea People! A Javelineer and my Warrior counter-attacked and Crete was temporarily free of Sea People. I stacked on the Merchants in Athens and Tanis. Athens would flip when Athens spawned. I'd built the Hanging Gardens there but I didn't want it getting too big. Tanis would soon be at risk of invasion by Camel Archers, who eat Archers for breakfast. Meanwhile both cities were excellent farms for Great Merchants, which I would settle in Knossos to help its population problem.

1148 BC: Knossos built the Mausoleum. Yay, 50% extra Golden Age length, plus Knossos had almost caught Wasit in Culture, both cities over 2,000. And then, in 1140 BC, the race was suddenly over: Ramses collapsed! No other city was over 700.

1134 BC: Stability -27 due to Economy -23 and Expansion -37. I was at dire risk of losing a city here, hopefully Athens.

1116 BC: Six more Sea People came knocking at Knossos' walls. 1108 BC: all dead; meanwhile in the delta, my Farms and Mines were going up in smoke. Nothing I could do to save them. 1084 BC: More red visitors died at Knossos.

1020 BC: Hello to David; we traded a cluster of my old techs for his Priesthood and Monotheism.

I did a calculation. Athens was due to spawn in 908 BC; Athens (my city) would pop a GM before then. I could still get my GM while starving the city down, then pull my military out of it and gift it to Agamemnon. Sounded like a plan! We were almost done with the Sea People. Except ... oh dear. Suddenly Mycenae was rubble and Pylos was under threat. Next turn, Pylos fell and Agamemnon was ashes and dust.

[ETA: Pericles actually flipped Athens in 914 BC, not 908 BC. Fortunately I had popped my last GM from the city the turn before and instantly shipped him to Knossos. Note to self - to avoid being caught with your pants down, allow an extra turn before the nominal spawn date!]

But then, thanks to Athens and its Silver in achieving UHV 1 by 1400 BC, it was 998 BC and HISTORICAL VICTORY time! Man, whatta ride.

Stability: Unstable (-39); 20, 10, -23, -42, ,-4.

 

[Edmund Ironside]

I think you should get a credit as RFCGW's official tester and player guide!

 

[Autumn Leaf]

I think you should get a credit as RFCGW's official tester and player guide!

I'm too inconsistent. I have bursts of enthusiam (like now when Melbourne is under Covid lockdown and I have a bad case of cabin fever) but then I get bored or life presses in again. Besides, I enjoy reading other peoples' reports! I keep hoping to see other people post here.

Here's how Knossos looks after 26 centuries of slow growth and the patient accretion of Great Merchants. It has built every building currently available to it. The green face (19 < 20 ) is due to the Taberna and the Slave Market; it has temporarily stagnated at 37 Food (38 - 1 [ETA: I could grow by putting two Specialists back on the land, but I am running 4 Merchants to keep growing my GM supply]). I am seven techs from Far Eastern Trade Mission (Future Tech) which will add extra health. If I get there it will be the first time I've completed the RFC-GW tech tree, so I don't yet know whether FETM is a repeating tech (as in normal RFC/BtS) or if you discover it (as in some variants) and that's that. If it repeats, Knossos can get bigger; I'd like to see it break 20! (I could have researched faster but I am running 20% and 10% to keep a leg up on my neighbours. With my compact empire and all those Great Merchants, the other 70% is all and I'm still making 76 per turn. I have 12,246 in the bank. Money really hasn't been an issue in this game. )

Spoiler Knossos in 4 AD :

I have five cities, having regained Athens after it went Independent from Alexander, but I have so far avoided major expansion. I briefly took Byblos when its owner, Babylonia, got aggressive and I worried Hammy might come for Tanis with his death stack, and the city keeps threatening to flip back to me. If it does flip I foresee more growth. I started building an army for that eventuality, but Asoka just lost his spare Elephants and cancelled our trade deal, and nobody else has any to offer. I am thinking of invading Independent Kyrene, which has Elephant in its BFC. Meanwhile I'm working on Heavy Swordsmen.

Stability: Very Solid (+64); Cities 22, Civics -10, Economy +8, Expansion +14, Foreign 30.

ETA: Confirmed by observation that Far Eastern Trade Mission is a one-off. All Research beyond that point is wasted. Huh. And in 304, still no sign of Byzantium. Pericles (Athens-in-Exile) bullt Byzantion and Thessalonica and is Stable, so maybe Byzantium's spawn is conditional.

 

[bluepotato]

ETA: Confirmed by observation that Far Eastern Trade Mission is a one-off. All Research beyond that point is wasted. Huh. And in 304, still no sign of Byzantium. Pericles (Athens-in-Exile) bullt Byzantion and Thessalonica and is Stable, so maybe Byzantium's spawn is conditional.

It is, they only spawn if Rome owns Constantinople at their spawn date.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

Elam UHV 1 is harder now; Javelineer > KR > City Guard. Nice nerf of early KR rush on Ur, although how this affects Ur's balance with Babylon is yet to be demonstrated.

ETA: the nerf makes capturing Ur very difficult indeed, which will have a flow-on effect with making Settlers for UHV 3. I won an early desert fight - Javelineer killed one KR, had 0.1 health left so my other KR killed it cheaply, but Ur still had a Javelineer in the city and by the time I had enough KRs outside to maybe overwhelm that Javelineer with a lucky roll, Ur had built another. This is not an arms race Elam can win. To capure Ur now it will be necessary to trick the AI out of position somehow, or wait for a moment of weakness.

Scrub that; I'm wrong, it's not a nerf. Ur must have discovered Urban Settlement in this 2.0 game and hadn't in my 1.8 game. Since I only ever played one v1.8 Elamite start, I never had the, uh, "opportunity" to learn otherwise.

It is true however that capturing Ur is going to be much harder than I thought! On the other hand Elam now starts with a Worker, so bullding those critical road segments to get the trade connection with India does not require cheese.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

OK, I DO NOT LIKE SUMERIA UHV 3 IN V2.0.

Let me clarify.

In v1.8 I flipped Jericho, razed Byblos (caught them in a vulnerable moment) and captured Aleppo. That gave me two cities in Levant. I founded Nineveh on Ashur's site. That, with Ur, gave me two cities in Mesopotamia. I thus flipped one city by culture, acquired one city by conquest and founded one city by Settler to meet the UHV. A nice variety, not easy (because war with Phoenicia), a little ahistorical, but not even requiring a paragraph in my playthrough.

In v2.0 you need one city in each of Sumer, Subartu, Babylonia, and Khuzestan.

• Issue with Khuzestan: Shusan will not reach pop 2 before 2200 BC. If you conquer it, it auto-razes. The only way to achieve this goal is to raze Shusan and settle a new city, since Shushan's culture covers all of Khuzestan except the squares too close to Larsa. You thus have to both conquer Elam and found a city there.
  
• Issue with Babylon (Akkad) and Subartu: NO CITIES. You therefore have to generate Setters to found a new city in each province.

This requires generating several Javelineers to destroy Sushan, and three Settlers out of Ur. Pretty danged hard in the time available.

Plus, why should you have to found all these cities that will anyways eventually be founded by their historical owners? It's ahistorical. Plus you're on a tight deadline to discover Cuneiform.

That also raises the issue with Elam that led me to replay Ur, which is that Shusan is almost as absurdly food-poor as Minoa. At least give it a Flood Plain for pity's sake! That will give the AI a possibility of getting it to pop 2 by 2200 and will also make the human Elam player's life easier.

ETA: Oh, and plus, you now have two ME civs (Sumeria and Elam) with steep time-limited Settler UHVs. Sorry, it's just tedious.

 

[bluepotato]

Issue with Khuzestan: Shusan will not reach pop 2 before 2200 BC. If you conquer it, it auto-razes. The only way to achieve this goal is to raze Shusan and settle a new city, since Shushan's culture covers all of Khuzestan except the squares too close to Larsa. You thus have to both conquer Elam and found a city there.

That also raises the issue with Elam that led me to replay Ur, which is that Shusan is almost as absurdly food-poor as Minoa. At least give it a Flood Plain for pity's sake!

Its BFC does have one flood plain, with stone - you just need to raze Larsa early so Susa can work it as soon as it's inside of its borders.

Issue with Babylon (Akkad) and Subartu: NO CITIES. You therefore have to generate Setters to found a new city in each province.

I've tried a few times, and it seems impossible to get out those two settlers unless you pop slash & burn from a goodie hut first. Maybe it could be done by building only one javelineer and using that + the warrior to take Susa, but the barbs make that pretty hard to accomplish.

Plus, why should you have to found all these cities that will anyways eventually be founded by their historical owners? It's ahistorical.

It's supposed to represent the Akkadians, who don't have their own civ because they historically lasted for about twelve turns (and wouldn't have anything to conquer, either). Perhaps I should just add an independent Akkad city? Then you could conquer that and Elam with the same troops, and you'd only have to build one settler, which is far more doable.
EDIT: Yeah that makes it far easier, though I reloaded a few times due to barbs. But I could've probably done it without that, had I been more careful. I'll push the independent Akkad change to the git repo then.

 

[Edmund Ironside]

I was going to start work on the Scythian UHVs this weekend, and modify Sparta & Athens. Should I modify Sumeria as well?

 

[bluepotato]

I think Sumeria is fine now with the independent Akkad spawn.

 

[Autumn Leaf]

I'll take a look at the new push. In one of my test plays prior to posting my screeds above, I did manage to get two Settlers and a Javelineer out of Ur in time to found both Nineveh (Ashur) and Babylon - there's literally no point except a 1-turn saving in travel time to build the cities elsewhere - and even managed to scrub Shusan, but I sacrificed a lot to do that and there was no chance of getting the necessary 3rd Settler. Two Javelineers (one from Ur, and the flipped one from Larsa) is the minimum plausible invasion force for Elam, unless you want to save/load in hope of getting two or more freakishly lucky rolls before 2200.

I did make the mistake of keeping Larsa and trying to use it as a military farm. However, the city didn't deliver an additonal unit in time to pay for its keep (I haven't exhausted the possibilities from micro-managing between flood plain and hill to get some extra hammers before Mining, but for these play-throughs I am trying to avoid as much micro-management as possible because I find it tiresome to go into my cities every turn to tweak the tiles around and if achieving a UHV can ony be done that way then it's a bad UHV), so razing it on flip to allow Elam access to that flood plain does seem the best plan.

I'll also have a look at how the new version affects play as Elam. I'd still prefer that Elam had another good food tile on its east side, but we'll see how the new push works out.

Key takeaway for Sumeria: Larsa delenda est!