Playthrough of a noob with the Maya (rated M for graphic violence against common sense)

[Necamijat]

Well, hello there.
My name is right there on the left <- and I've been following this forum loosely for years.
Now that the world is in lockdown, I've decided to actually bring something to the table and make a new thread. The cleverly uninspired person that I am, I decided to just do a Let's Play, because why would I want to join in on a meaningful conversation when I can make you witness the sheer stupidity of my plays, all through the power of screenshots and imgur server loads.

Therefore, I present to the: The Maya, we don't know what we're doing.
Seriously, I've played the game for about 60 turns for now. My memory and dedication is just that bad that I'm deciding to post this now because I'll either forget or give up on it later.

To begin with, we start with the essentials: setup.
I'm using the standard automatically installed 4-17-2 version with EUI. And I'm using the latest version (that I found) of communitu79 map, with its own resource settings:
Events are on, and I disabled Time Victory because, honestly, I don't even know what that is anymore. What is time in this quarantine? Here's a spoiler to how my predictable setup looked like:

Spoiler Setup :

Yes, I randomed. Sue me. I also use Prince. I am a noob. If you want to watch people beat Deities, look away. If you want to see someone tackle the most important questions in life - rush Pyramids or rush Henge - continue reading on.

Our starting position sees us positioned between a rock and a hard place, and by hard place I mean that swath of ocean that is devoid of luxuries. By rock I mean that mountain, obviously. Sometimes a rock is literally a rock.

I did the pro gamer move, and settled in place. I've got sweets and hard candy, what more could I ask for? Seriously, though, there are 4 visible Kuna spots within 2 tiles there, which is good enough to start with.

The warrior is going north, the pathfinder south-southwest, no surprises there.

You know when I said the important questions in life? That's right, folks, I'm rushing Henge. Into Constuction, because Marble is too good to pass, and Calendaring takes too much time to finish. Who needs Archers anyway?

Spoiler Tech Start :

Serious convo time: I'm playing on Prince, my start has a mix of food and production, and I'm playing a Religious civ. At least I'll deny some schmuck AI the joy of seeing stones loosely stacked in a formation. Also, there's not much else to go for, both my luxes are dependent on the wheel, so let's just go with that.

On turn 3, it looked like luck smiled upon the noobs, as I got a goody hut with 140 gold in it. I used that money to rush monument and shrine (Serious note time, I don't remember if your faith gets reset to 0 when you pantheon, but I completely forgot that snippet and realised that the shrine cooked for 17ish turns for no reason). Oh well, lessons learnt.

In some other times, I'd buy a worker with that, but we're not improving anything until at least Husbandry if we spot an ungulate in the jungle, and by my calculations (which I clearly did, because trust me), I'd have money by that time.

Turn 8 is when we have our First Contact, if you disregard the Angry Hostile City State in the corner:

Immediately followed by Second Contact on the beginning of next turn:


Looks like it's a loss by losing to armies, folks. Close the tab and carry on.
But that's enough quitter talk, we do indeed have strong early warmongers in our possible vicinity. It's a good thing we are in rough and mountainous terrain to at least give us some breathing room in the first few turns.
If you're wondering why the Warrior is west, it's because I stumbled on more rough terrain north (and coast) and decided to loop there with the scout when he's done with southside.


Now this is just something I like to see, a tech popping when I finish a building. We're working Marble probably a bit erroneously here, as 3 food would've got us faster to 4th pop, but I believe there's still minor carryover and decided that literally every hammer will count for da Henge.


The known world, circa 3280BC. Don't get used to those numbers, because Maya won't use it for long. You can spot the Angry Hostile City State (Sofia), Uluru, and there's the Zulu in the bottom left corner (by the Pearls). I'm guessing that we're not gonna expand much without wars.
My Pathfinder got an Upgrade Hut, which I firmly believe is great because I can now launch the Scout into a warrior camp and actually hope to win that fight. Not that I'll use him for that, as there's no camps around me, and the one in the picture can be Shaka's problem. He's also being outfitted to walk fast in forests because just look at all those greens.


I've decided to go with Progress here. I still call it Liberty at times. I could've went for Tradition, seeing as we probably won't be expanding much. We could've also went for Authority, because it could help in the inevitable war. I'm hoping for a peaceful start so I can get improvements up and running quickly. In Progress, I'll go for the left side first because those help with buildings and the +1 movement to workers will help them move around the lush.


As promised, we're going Calendar next. Remember when cutting jungle was in some Casting tech? That was a wild time.


Our Scout finds Gibraltar, someone finished Pyramids at turn 34, and we can see the Zulu have indeed decided to move towards us instead of all this open space, because who needs social distancing in a game of Civilization.

At this point in making of this thread, I realised I forgot about the Henge (I swear I saved that screenshot, but apparently it was a lie). Yes, we finished Henge, we found stone next to the Capital, and I took the Pantheon with the Forest/Jungle bonuses (the name eludes me). It was between that and the Plantations, and I'm going to be working Jungles with my Kunas so I went with that route.


I was right, in that I was able to buy a Worker, train a second one, and am currently finishing on the third before starting the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. As it starts, I'll connect both Stone and Marble (you can see the workers improving them), catapulting me with their wonder production bonuses. Maybe I should've taken that Pantheon.

With Calendar and Construction done, I'm rushing Maths. We gonna be smart.
But really, I feel this is what you should always do, as you can eek out early GPs with your trait.


It's turn 50, and Askia decided he wants a piece of my wonderwhoring cake as he makes a DoW. I have no clue how he'll get to me in time, as there's an entire mountain range separating us and I'm 9 turns away from Maths, and Atlatlists with that. It's really cool that the entire civ is online with one relatively early tech. I guess this is because I'm on Prince, and the AI is underestimating the defensive capabilities of 1 Warrior.


Mausoleum done on turn 54. Not sure if this is good timing (probably isn't), but the free stone works means it's not a complete waste of hammers as I have two tiles that benefit, and the uptick in hammers and science for the next 10 turns means I'm just the more ready to take on the Songhai.


We learn Maths at turn 56, year 3.8.12.1.12. The numbers means we're soon going to have our free GP, possibly even next turn, which means that a turn later we'd have lost on a great part of our trait. The capital is finishing up on that Herbalist before moving to supply some defences in terms of newly unlocked Atlatlists.


I was wrong about the numbers, and three turns later we get an event. The choice is either WLTKD, 25 culture and faith, or 2 Culture for the next 40 turns. I decided on the We Love the Kind Day (it's easier to type that than remember the acronym for some reason). My reasoning is that 10% science and production in the capital outweigh the loss of culture, and 50 gold can be put to use to maybe get a warrior or something.


The last image for this part, as we overview the capital. I'm undecided on the Roman Forum. If I Engineer rush it, I can get a military CS on my side, which isn't nothing, or I can wait a few turns to get the policy requirements for The Hanging Gardens, which is arguably a safer, more versatile and more contested choice.

I'll probably build a few Atlatls to defend myself, then get out a settler or two because I sorely need to expand before the Zulu do that for me. There's 5 workable Kunas, 2 Cocoa plantations (are you supposed to improve all of them or leave them as jungles?), and 2 heavy production tiles, so my capital should be taken care of until pop 9.

My current expansion plans:

I'm thinking that the X in the left corner is the safest choice, while the other two are more situational. The south-east is contested by the city-state, and I rate that it's better to get a forest for the Kuna than coastal access. The southwestern point could be a good choke against the Zulu, as well.

(EDIT: I realised that the eastern spots are taken by the city state proximity, so only the bananas and the coastal jungle will count for it. I think the coastal jungle might be a decent spot, if nothing but to get more Chocolate under control)

Should I put all these images in spoilers as to not bloat the post?
I'll get in the game and make a better screenshot of the south side later so I can gauge the potential expansion into there.
For now, this is it. Talk to you guys soon.[/img][/img]

 

[crdvis16]

Fun read- looking forward to more!

The free GP spawns are on turns 62, 72, 86, and 101 to start. There's probably a sub-62 spawn but I don't know what it is and you've shown here that it's less than t56. In my last game with them I couldn't find it but I play without ruins- if you got a lucky tech ruin you might be able to hit math even sooner.

You're on track to found a religion by t100 which means you can enhance with the t101 free GP. It's possible to found in time to enhance on t86 instead but you'd have needed to prioritize Kuna sooner and expanding sooner and you may not have been able to get those wonders in that case.

Given that you went for wonders and delayed expanding you may have been better off with Tradition. I think you still would have hit Mathematics in time for the t62 free GP considering you got there by t56 with Progress's science boost.

Going Progress I probably would have went right side for the early free worker followed by science/food from city connections. The free worker gets your Kuna up faster and connecting earlier cities gives a lot of science to get to mathematics faster. You could spare the science for Pottery before pushing to mathematics in that case I think- the cities you found giving science from their road connection and any Kunas they work can make up for Pottery's science cost.

Maya are one of my favorite civs because the early game choices are really tough and impactful. There's a huge difference between hitting mathematics on t60 vs t63. There's a huge difference between founding your religion on t84 or t87. Getting things to align just right is really fun with them.

 

[Necamijat]

I'd like to thank @crdvis16 for his reply. I agree that Tradition would probably have been better as a choice, especially considering what I did to follow up on my previous post, which I'll write below. It would have probably allowed me to get more out of my early game and would have overall been a better play. I still have the mentality that Tradition is for hardcore tall play and Progress/Liberty is for going wider without wars, which I need to shake off.

I'll just continue where I left off, as the next part covers turns 63-131.


Turn 72 is where I choose the Great Artist, to get my Culture per turn a bit higher. This is probably the wrong choice and I could've picked something else, but c'est la vie.
I used the Great Engineer to make a Manufactury on a hill, and decided against the Roman Forum. This brought my production up from 20 to 27 (as I stopped working the forest Kuna for it).


Askia sues for white peace, and I accept. The only blows were him shooting some arrows at my fleeing Scout. We will rebuild after this terrible tragedy (the Scout survived).
At that point, my military might was 2 Atlatls and a Warrior. I'm pretty sure the commanding decision to peace out was my 7 tech lead and really harsh terrain separating our territories.
He would ask for my Cocoa and give me 4 gold per turn and open an embassy. I maybe could've asked for 1 more gold, but it doesn't really matter.


Did you know Gardens give Cocoa +1 Food and Gold? Yeah, an early Garden with 10 more food tacked on would help my capital grow while working my Kunas and Production tiles.


I met Korea next. I checked their approximate location and they were north, on a separate landmass, so I considered them not relevant to my current situation and goals. At this point, I was speeding past the tech tree, a trend I thought should continue well into the next 2 eras at that pace.


We get a Long Count Great Diplomat t86 and ally the Angry Hostile Sofia. It's the nearest city-state and it wants a trade route, which if allied would give me culture and science, so I was sold. It would also give me free military units, something I always forget to stock on in my games.
You'll also notice that I've made a road towards my expansion to the coast above it. It's going to be a bit snug, but at that point Shaka has decided to move into the south and I didn't want to go there yet.


The Great Library of Palenque opened in year 6.2.7.9.9 Mayan time. Its prominent features are granting me a tech I don't remember, most likely Masonry as I lacked Sailing to move towards the top part of the tree.


This is a fun event. The main choices are a unit or a free citizen. I took the citizen as it would negate the loss I receive from a Settler. The unit was not imperative as I was not in a war, yet.


We do a Mission Impossible and steal a ruin from America's front yard. At this point I checked, and 4 out of 5 City-states visible are Hostile. The reasoning eludes me.
America and the 3 early game civs (me, Songhai, Shaka) are separated by a small buffer continent and some small islands. Korea is looming from the top right. All is well in the world, apart from Shaka deciding to take the entire south part of a continent meant for 3 people. And my place is in mountains. Can I respec to Inca yet, or is cultural appropriation pack a separate DLC?


He takes my chocolate and insults me for having a small but technologically superior (I presume) army. I'll remember this. And I'll be watching my front, thank you very much, because Askia is there.


Tikal is snugly set to get some Jungle and Cocoa access. Cocoa gives 2 Culture on a monopoly, which I am eager to get.
My plan is to next expand into the northeast peninsula, probably by settling two tiles west to the sheep in the image.


We get Philosophy turn 96, and you can see that I'm gunning for exactly turn 99 religion. Philosophy gets me access to my next Wonder in my whoring streak, which is Oracle. Free Temples and a zoom to the next policy sounds good. Marble and Stone are doing work, even with the Wonder penalty for having 4 wonders already (Henge, Mausoleum, Hanging Gardens, Great Library).


I decide to take my expansion slow, settling the previously discussed spot. Chichen Itza doesn't have a lot going on, but it's better than nothing, and at least now my workers have something more to do. The trade route Sofia asked for is finished now, and I'm going to get that sweet sweet 1 Science. Woo.


Two important things to notice here.
I got a great prophet on turn 99, just in time for the next Long Count.
I do a solid impression of a thonk and settle on the pictured beliefs.
Founder - Science is awesome, and Production is for more Wonders.
Follower - Science is awesome and Mosques are the buildings that give it.

The second important thing is that you can spot on the minimap that Korea decided to move in, which will be widely regarded as a bad move. Bigger image here:

Spoiler Korea is a dick :

And I thought we were Science Bros.


The Great Long Count is the gift that keeps on giving, and today Santa gave out a messiah.

Tengriism belief system hinges on... buying things apparently.
I didn't know what to take for my Enhancer, and this was as good as any. I really think I'm overestimating Culture per turn yields, but who the heck knows.
The second follower belief is because I'll probably be going wide Piety. Even with my neighbours, I have some room to expand, and if push comes to shove, their real estate can be up for sale at the low low price of a Declaration of War. This follower belief I consider to be 'for when you don't know what to do'. It provides some immediate impact, and the bonus culture (again with the culture) from buying Faith stuff (Mosques and Monasteries) is nice.


Askia follows Sejong's example of a pro gamer move and moves onto my turf. Worse yet, this new settlement cockblocks my northwestern expansion completely.
Sofia gave out a Composite Bowman. My people don't know what a Composite Bow is, but they are amazed that it behaves similarly, but not as good, to an Atlatl when it comes to putting holes in other people.


A wide shot of my rising Empire with the newest city addition. It's perilously close to Umguwhatever, but considering Askia declared war on me for my Scout breathing next to his spices (true story), I'm sure Shaka would declare on me one way or the other with or without that city existing. Uxmal says YOLO and calls a worker to start building Not-quite-Pyramids.


Oracle finishes and I'm getting a Policy. My Progress order was going down the left side (as noted in the previous part) then filling out the right side, taking the Science and Food from city connections over what I presume is making 12.5% of my citizens into drug dealers.


Sofia, a city-state that is of Eastern European descent, pops out a Native North American unit to another North American Native civ. What a world. Mohawks are fun because a lot of my terrain is forest. If I remember correctly, they are also a Swordsman alternative that doesn't cost Iron, something I don't have anyway, which fills the missing hole in my military.


I am unreasonably angry at Askia for doing what he did (we all know), and I declare war on him. How does it feel to be on the other side, Askia? Bet it doesn't feel great.


We pop a Great Long Count Writer, just in time to start writing of my conquests over Songhai. The work will be put into our Great Library for all to see. Especially you, Sejong. You know what you did.


I should've probably taken more shots of the ensuing war, but it wasn't really a fight. I had a few Atlatls which were shooting every embarked unit he called towards the defence of his outlying city, and once the Catapult rolled in, it was easy pickings.
I'm razing this city to make space for my intended expansion and move it into a more favourable spot to the south.


Askia doesn't have a bad military, he just doesn't get close enough to really matter. And he's really behind technologically.
Sofia is still giving me arguably the wrong Native Americans.

We're close to opening Piety, and a settler is on the move to establish an expansion to the west.
I'm wondering if I should fill in the hole in my Empire by settling next to the stone in the mountain range.

Tensions are high between Shaka and me, but I believe that he won't do much considering the suite of Atlatls that are poised to defend the high ground.

That is it for this part of the playthrough. See you later when we continue the fight against common sense, and be sure to leave a reply with your thoughts if you like (or dislike) what you're seeing.

 

[crdvis16]

Looks like you're in a good spot so far. It'll be interesting to see if the AI starts to consider you a runaway and creates a coalition to oppose you.

For the free GPs- my priority list has usually been:

1) Great Prophet for enhancing if possible
2) Engineer if a wonder I want is available
3) Diplomat if a CS alliance is crucial in some way (especially if a religious CS is near and their faith will get me my religion sooner)
4) Scientist for the strongest early game great person tile

After that the early great people are less impactful IMO. The culture/turn from great works is nice but not huge. Great Merchant tiles are kinda weak and their bulb effect can be nice but is somewhat fleeting.

I believe there is a funny trick where you could get a great admiral and use him to cross deep ocean if that helps you find other civs/CSs much earlier than you otherwise could (as is often the case in continents maps). I haven't had the occasion of trying that though.

Normally for your enhancer belief it's good to weigh your likelihood of being able to spread your religion a lot or if you're surrounded by civs that will also found and spreading will be difficult. Some of the enhancers can only shine if you spread while others are more insular. In Maya's case you often enhance so early that you don't even know if your neighbors will found or not and you just have to guess.

Looking forward to more updates!

 

[Necamijat]

The next update is a bit shorter in terms of turns taken, but there's action in it!

Let's start by a quick overview of the current situation:

Spoiler We start with :

We are plowing through the tech tree, leaving everyone else a whole era behind. This should give us an edge against the opponent if war breaks out. I doubt Askia will continue the war for long, but he's resisting a peace offering, presumably due to his city being taken.

America and Korea have largely done their own thing, apart from that egregious city on my territory, so I haven't paid much mind to them. Korea has a slight tech lead over the rest of the AI, but he's still far behind me.

Demographics show I have the smallest army, but does it really matter if its full of units that are an era ahead?

Our first action in this part is to go to next turn.

We're opening Piety, and beginning to purchase religious buildings in our cities. This should further boost our science output and make it spread faster.
Korea, America, and Songhai all have their own religion, meaning there's going to be a religion war and missionaries all over the place soon. I'm most likely going to passively give Zulu my religion unless Askia gets a ton of missionaries out, which he probably will. I don't know why the AI is so eager to trample through territories to get the religion spreading.


Our newest expansion is a replacement for the city we razed and, while its not the best city in the world, it spreads my territory so Askia has less to take. At this point, getting more cities is great, because I am getting a lot from Progress procs (Science from connections, Culture from buildings).
Talking about expansions, my priorities in building up new cities are Monument > Council > Market = Well/Water Mill, then going for whatever I need to counter the unhappiness. The Markets are boosted by my religion, if you're wondering why I take that highly. For improvements, it's usually Kunas and roads first.
I am getting more workers as well, as I realise I'll acquire a lot more property soon.



Our next Long Count gives a Scientist which I use for the Academy improvement. I'm probably going to start spreading these around, seeing as my non-capital cities are starting to work non-resource tiles and are quickly growing.


My Scout is reporting Shaka's current army state, and it's only a bit worrying, mainly because of its size and the fact that I have to cross rivers to get to him, which would slow my troops down. On the other hand, my city is surrounded by hills and rivers, giving it natural protection, and I can supply it quickly due to bridged roads.


The state of our tech tree. I'm going for the Crossbowmen, then for the Cannons. Considering my war-happy opponents, I'll just use better-army diplomacy. I checked, and Impis are actually not Pikemen replacements, which gives me more time against Shaka. I'm a bit worried about his special unit promotions, but I can't really do much about that.
I also realise I won't be able to get Cannons, as I don't have any Iron in my territory, and only 4 Horses which I've yet to spread to, which will make any city taking harder, but more on that later.


The Roman Forum is built somewhere turn 127, while I got Maths (the requisite tech) at turn 56. Could've had 5 of those by now.


Askia asks for peace and gives me gold. Considering the brunt of my military is currently ill-suited for a naval campaign I'll have to take, considering there's very few tiles to approach with land units, I settle. I got the territory west of my mountain range, so I achieved my original goal anyway.


The City-States seems to know something I don't and are starting to give me Siege units. This is my second Trebucket (as I upgraded my original Catapult).


Meanwhile, America is at war with Korea, and is winning. I wasn't following them closely, but I'd need to take care of them if I want that city off my land.


The next Long Count is at turn 145, and I get a Merchant. After some deliberation. I'll use him to get some flat gold and a WLTKD. I get a bonus on those due to Mausoleum and Atlatls cost a bit to upgrade to Crossbowmen.
Unfortunately, their unique promotion doesn't carry over on upgrade, but they are much faster (even cheaper than a regular Composite Bow if I remember correctly) to build, so I'll build them, then use some money to upgrade them to X-Bows in order to spare some turns of production.


Shaka declares war. I guess I'm sciencing too loudly in my valley and he is not having it anymore. It's going to be interesting. His army is technologically inferior but probably outnumbers mine by a large margin.


My XBows are moving in from my latest expansion on the west. I used that spot to secure more land and do exactly this, allow a second line of attack against the Zulu.


Korea seems to have got a beating from Washington and is now officially afraid of me. Serves him right for forward settling. I won't pay much mind to him as I have bigger worries at the moment.


The full frontline of Shaka's forces is revealed as my XBows make it across the river. The Pikeman in the picture won't survive for long, but neither will a lot of Shaka's pictured military.
These XBows are not super leveled, but the more experienced reinforcements are flanking from the west.
The mountain and hills northwest of Umgu are really hampering their approach, but they'll do a great job of preventing a lot of units getting to the city from the capital.
Umgungundlovu is a major strategic point for the war, as it basically splits the capital from the rest of Shaka's continental cities.


An event pops a second Great Merchant, and I use it to plant a Town somewhere. At this point, my gold coffers are getting filled up nicely.


I reach Renaissance at turn 159. This is the Tercio/Cannons tech, but as I said previously, I lack access to Iron, so half of it is going to waste. The defensive Wonder in it is not really worth focusing on at the moment.
The spy goes into my capital city, as I assume that's where everyone else will put theirs.


Taking over Umgu took a while, as I had to get the Trebuckets into position, and Shaka just wouldn't run out of units to throw under my XBows.
Unfortunately, it would flip once more as he pulls out a naval force from nowhere to contest it.


Askia decides to do me over and declares war. I won't be able to pull a lot of units from the Zulu front, but a Tercio is quickly on the way from the capital.
The Explorer on the picture got stranded for a bit in Shaka's territory and is now going to die. He was level 8 and his passing won't be forgotten, as he was the first casualty in the Songhai-Maya wars. He got pelted with arrows the first time around, and Mandekalu cavalry will finish him this time.
Askia's only tech upgrade of his units from the previous war is the Comp bows, so I'm pretty certain I'll be able to stand ground once meaningful troops come in.


Shaka sues for peace after I took Ungu for the second time and started pressuring his eastern cities. Unfortunately, that maneuver cost me a Trebuchet and a few Knights and 2 XBows will die as I try to maneuver them from one enemy to another. The most painful part about the war is that they seem to have a neverending supply of cavalry and swordsmen, compared to my 4 Horses and no Iron. The 2 Mohawks died while sieging Ungu the first time around.

You also may have been able to spot it on one picture, but one City State has granted me a Janissary (Ottoman Unique Unit). This is a great upgrade over an XBow, as it has March (heals every turn), something that he will I believe keep once upgraded as well. He's singlehandedly able to wipe a few of Shaka's units, and he will now be called to defence against Askia.

I haven't kept a close eye on City States this game, mainly because most of them are Hostile. I randomly finish quests from them due to buildings things that are out of other civs' reach, which allowed me to ally a few more for a bit. This doesn't last as my influence decays quicker since they're Hostile.

Unfortunately, I'm in a bit of Happiness trouble. Turns out being in a war, then getting into another one just extends the war-weariness even if you peace in the first one. My cities are struggling on all counts except for Science output, and I'm rushing to get buildings in place to sate them. I got the Forbidden Palace (Progress finisher unlock) to make the cost of rushing buildings a bit cheaper. The Capital is relegated to various wonders (national, mostly) and units now, and I'll need to also start getting Trade routes to my outer cities to get them up to speed infrastructure-wise. It's producing Unhappiness only from War weariness, which is... something.


The current state of affairs, as we go into turn 171. The building in Palenque is the religious wonder thingy, and my capital is getting some use out of me spreading religion to the north with a Prophet I got recently.

The most pressing matters are getting out of the Happiness hole. I am unlocking Military techs to get my units more out of Askia and Shaka's reach.
My plan is to defend against Askia's offence and maybe go on the offensive myself once he loses enough momentum. Then I plan on finishing Shaka off or at least taking consolidating the southern part of my continent from him.

Let me know what you think of this part, and if you have some advice for the immediate future. I'll probably play through the next part tomorrow or the day after, so stay tuned for more updates then.

 

[crdvis16]

Looking good!

You might consider sending units out to try to find the other continent. Their luxes could help you secure your happiness issues.

You also might consider trying to make friends with Washington. Having Songhai and a crippled Zulu as enemies is manageable but if Washington turns hostile and sends a big navy your way you could find yourself in trouble. I'd consider just giving him 5GPT or something, sending him trade routes, open borders/embassies, etc until he asks for friendship.

 

[Necamijat]

It appears the trend is that the parts get progressively shorter as I need more time to take a single turn. 40ish turns this time, but some action within. This session was about 2.5 hours long, with a few brief breaks.

To start with, I alleviate some of my Happiness issues by getting Korea to give me Copper for some GPT from my side. Considering I don't have a gold problem, I'm happy to get 3 Happiness for nothing. Then, I hastily get internal Trade Routes up and running in order to boost the production of my outlying and newly acquired cities. My inner core of cities seems to be doing fine, other than Chichen Itza, the city with constant Poverty and Distress problems throughout this part. I'm guessing it really doesn't have good tiles to work with and is growing too fast for its own good. City management is what I feel has been a major point of contention here. I'm struggling to find any way to meaningfully reduce unhappiness by working different tiles, but nothing I try seems to work.

Reformation comes around and I pick Faith of the Masses. The immediate Happiness boost is good enough to leap me into the 50s, and I can faith buy culture buildings I'm not prioritizing, thus alleviating some Boredom.
Shaka also instantly becomes Friendly to me, even despite the war that has been going on not even 10 turns ago, and I get a Luxury from him as well, further pulling my happiness up.

I'll later realise Umgu actually has Pearls, it's just that Shaka decided to pillage the Boats and I never noticed.


My Policy tree. I'm going to finish the middle of Piety for some culture and production bonuses, then move into the left.


Askia is severely out-teched, which is why I'm surprised he initiated a war against me in the first place. My Lancers and Muskets can plough through his Classical era units with ease.
Unfortunately, I'm a bit overzealous and the terrain is not on my side, as I'm invading into jungles and hills, which pose a serious movement issue.
I'll receive a second Janissary, and slowly move the brunt of my force to attack the cities of Tomboctu and Jenne.

Shaka decides to DoW Askia while he's down. They have a few cities each on the southern archipelago, which they will fight in.


The Long Count pops, and I choose an Admiral. I grab the Luxuries to get my Happiness up.


Askia realises what a mistake he had done, but I'm too deep to back off now. I'm already in the Happiness hole (from War Weariness), so might as well prolong the war while I can afford it.


Jenne falls to Lancers and a single Trebuchet. Tombouctou is under fire. My army is so technologically ahead that I don't need more than a few units to barrage him.
I'll get Trade routes to newly acquired cities to boost their production output and make them liveable.


City State diplomacy is an afterthought this game, but I've been finishing their quests solely because I'm ahead and a lot of them are asking for either cities or declarations of war.

This one I am confused about. I see no reason why the Influence is not decaying.


Tombouctou falls two turns after Jenne, and I've gained a foothold into Askia's territory, it's mostly open fields and paved roads into his three other cities on the mainland.


Washington becomes cheeky and steals some of my lands. I can't afford to go to another war, so I'll let it go for now. But I'm coming back for that Kuna.


Askia's capital falls. Three Muskets have the Range promotion and can pelt cities from afar. They serve a similar purpose to siege weapons, considering Trebs are woefully under-equipped to siege with their RCS being lower. However, I've acquired some Iron from Tomboctu, which means I can finally afford some decent Siege Equipment.


Three turns later, Askia's mainland is now mine. I'll raze that northern city after figuring out it's easier to replace it with 2 Pioneers/cities to maximise tile usability, after I get out of wars. I can't sue for peace yet due to conquering his cities, but I'm aiming at capitulation, although I'm not sure how useful that would be.


Something forces me out of the war, and it takes me a bit to figure out Shaka has vassaled him, ejecting him from wars. At least I got what I wanted from the war and my War Weariness will... wear out in a few turns.


7 turns later, I've started to recover a bit, planted a city on the Songhai peninsula (as I'll start to call it), but between mine and their cities. Not sure why I didn't go to the northern spots instead. Maybe something to reflect on.
Shaka declares war as you can see, Askia-the-vassal follows suit. He (Shaka) was irked that I moved some of my units to our border, and I wouldn't really lie to him that they are friendly. Time to finish what was started, I guess.


He upgraded his military to... Longswords. It's not nothing, but it's a full era behind. I'm going straight for his capital. It has open fields to the west and my city is joined to it by roads from the north, making an invasion fairly easy. Janissaries are covering the flank from the east, although not much will come out of it.


I keep losing Lancers by pushing them too deep into enemy territory, which is more of a hassle than an actual setback. My military can go through his defences either way.


I actually could open an Industrial era tree, as I teched into Industrial a few turns earlier to get Fusiliers.
I couldn't decide what tree to stick to, so just continued with another piety point. At least it will give some Culture per turn back. The last Piety policy is kind of a waste if not for the finisher.

At this point, my Happiness has started to come down into low 40s and high 30s as my cities can't get enough production and gold to sustain happiness needs. It's kind of paradoxical, as I need more population to work tiles, but they get me more unhappiness in return.


9 turns into the war, Ulundi falls by being plinked by Muskets. It's a bit annoying that the next closest city gets to be his new capital and gets a boost to its defences.


Fadeaway picture of the empire. I nabbed Machu Picchu in Uxmal (as it has more mountains), the Notre Dame and Chichen Itza in Palenque to my knowledge.
I'm 10 techs ahead of the next person (Korea) and 11 ahead of Washington. He's been advancing his troops to my border, and I'm fully expecting a DoW in the next few turns. His invasion will consist of at least one Composite Bowman. Really.

The plan against Shaka is to rob him of all cities on the mainland and leave him and Askia as island nations.
My biggest enemy is unhappiness. And not even War Weariness, but just straight up Distress and Poverty.
I've also lost troops due to going too deep into enemy territory, and Palenque has been too busy getting Wonders to help with unit production. I'm thinking that will change soon. I'll also stock Ungu with a Harbor and get to some of the target cities by sea.
Railroads and Factories are coming up, and my workers are already running all over the place to get every tile sorted. I'm getting massive flooding events (I had 3 in 5 turns). Not sure why. Is there something that ups the chance of those?
My economy is decent (is 230GPT decent?) and I'll be able to afford some units to replenish my stocks.

I've yet to discover other civs on the planet. I'll invest in a Caravel to help with that. Or maybe I instead just dig into Shaka more so the undiscovered civs don't get to know what a massive warmonger I am. Does that still work?

What are your suggestions on the next Policy Tree? I'm thinking Imperialism. I'm already deep into warmongering, and my tech lead is high enough to just go through cities like (chilled) butter. Should I skip over finishing Piety? The finisher gives a nice boost to my cities that have a religion (which are all of them).
Or I can go into Rationalism to get further ahead in science output, but Science by itself doesn't mean much. My units are already a full era (and maybe a bit more) ahead of the curve, so that's not a problem.
I'm not sure how scaling the AI gets in the later eras, so just capturing cities might be the faster way to go rather than trying to tech up.

Was my Reformation choice a fail? I picked something that really provided more of an instant alleviation to a momentary Happiness problem. It worked decent enough, as I have about 20ish cities that are following my religion, and I got decent Culture out of it due to not needing to hard build Amphitheatres and focus on other buildings instead.

This game is probably not really representative of what you guys are used to. I'm playing on a massively easier difficulty than what appear to be most playthroughs, and the early tech lead seems mostly responsible for my success. But hey, it's fun, and that's what the game is supposed to be about, right? And hopefully, I'll get better.

 

[InkAxis]

Edit: somehow this posted after your third update, it was meant to be posted after the second as that was all I read

I'm liking this play through, very interesting.
For Great People choices I would definitely agree with @crdvis16 that you probably don't want great WAM, generally I would go for a Scientist or an Engineer for a wonder if I don't have something specific in mind. I think choosing a merchant is probably a good choice if you have Maus but I actually haven't built it that often recently so I don't know. I don't know how close you are to researching the ocean crossing tech but if its far away then you can use a great admiral for that, and then you can expend him for 2 luxuries, which might help with your happiness problems a little. But great admirals aren't really worth it just for the luxuries so if you're close to the tech probably you don't want to do that. I'm not that experienced (play on Prince with VP usually) so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.

 

[Necamijat]

Hello again. This will be the last update in the next few days as I handle moving to another place for a bit.
Another short one. I just can't sit at the game for more than a few hours at a time.

So, to begin with, America declares war:


I guess this wasn't really out of the blue (heh), but the AI has done a nice job so far by making me continuously at war for the past 3 eras more or less.
I'm getting some of my units out of the Shaka front and towards Pyongyang, as that's my only goal from this war. I completely lack a navy to pressure further, which I'll need to work on.

I'm getting attacked by more or less Classical/Medieval Era units. Note I'm done with the Renaissance.


I get access to Opera Houses and my Reformation belief allows me to mass Faith-buy them, alleviating some Culture deficits and pushing me further into Policies. I feel like I'm behind culturally even though I'm 2-3 Policies ahead.


He only accepts giving me a gold, which I have no use of. I want to push more into his territory, as I don't feel a lot of pressure from Washington yet.


I made more headway into his territory, and now there's open fields to his next city.


I finished Piety, just to get the finisher city bonuses. They would marginally help my Poverty/Distress needs, and I still don't know what Industrial Policy tree to open.


Shaka only accepts giving me a city on the archipelago I don't have access to from the mainland, which I won't accept. However, he got access to Impi, and I'm not sure what that entails for military quality.


Alberti needs to do some better work, in my opinion.


The small city on the south was taken by a Field Gun (Siege unit) and a Fusilier. This is my first actual puppet. Maybe I annex it later if I feel like it.
I accepted peace with Shaka to get some heavy gold per turn benefits. He also stopped vassalling Askia. I'm not wholly sure how the vassalage system works. This allows me to transfer the remaining units to the America front and lowers my War Weariness. I'm still hovering in the 35 range in regards to Happiness, and I can't seem to get a grip on it.


I lead the world by about 9 techs. I'm getting Factory access, as my cities need Production (and food) the most, followed by Gold. I'm going to rush into Archeology next, as that's the tech that gives Kuna additional +2 Science. I've started changing a lot of tiles that Shaka owned to Kunas.
I revealed Coal, and got a strategic monopoly on it after changing some of the mismatched tiles (farms on Coal) in my borders.


Someone stole Compass from me. How will I ever recover?


It is time to meet more neighbours. First up, it's Egypt, who is apparently gunning for third place. He's in line with the rest of the AI in terms of techs and policies and seems to have a few more citizens.


We get a Great Long Count Musician, as the only other option is a General who I have 3 of.


Washington does a double-take as he realises my forces are coming for Pyongyang. I don't accept the few of these empty offers.


We meet Rome, the runner up of the AI world. Still far behind in everything. I use the newly discovered people to get more luxes, as I got plenty of Pearls and Cocoa to trade.


I'm opening Rationalism. Despite being in a war for the past... 150ish turns, I'm not really keen on getting more cities. Rationalism's reduction in needs and Science boost should skyrocket my tech output and alleviate some Happiness concerns.

To be fair, I've only ever declared war once. All the others have been purely defensive wars, in which I just happened to acquire more territory and cities. Weird.


Shaka uses two Great Generals to steal land, one from the south of Ulundi (not really important) and the other next to Nobamba, which I am kind of mad about as it disconnects the puppet from the Railroad network. I'll plant a General of my own to retake the Town.


Pyongyang fell once, then fell again. One Field Gun has Logistics and Extra Range, allowing it to safely attack over the mountain, and sink all those wooden ships.


We meet the irrelevant Inca, and Egypt hosts the World Congress. I propose the Culture from World Wonders proposal, as that's the one I don't have to actively watch out for. I also have 9 World Wonders, which means I get the most benefit from the culture. I won't get a lot from the Science from Great Works on it, but oh well. I'm fairly confident the AI won't approach me tech-wise, yet, even with it.


We got Factories, about 20 Coal, and are gunning for Archeology and further Science boosts. Factories are started in 5 cities and few others have the Seaport. Palenque gets a train station instead.


Washington sues for peace, and I accept. Without a navy I can't really push through mostly naval cities between us, and I'll use the peacetime to lick my wounds and get my infrastructure (mainly Happiness) up and running again.


Shaka has other plans, as he actually insults me three times in a dozen turns, then declares war. I'm not sure what he's expecting here.



We end this part on turn 250. Most of the cities are building Factories or their requirements. Next up will be the upcoming Public Schools.
I'm not worried about Shaka, and I'll just use this war to get the 2 cities on the east, and maybe the last one on the southwest of the continent. He managed to build another one in the tundra to get the Coal he can't even see yet.

The overall plan is to get a hold of my entire continent, get my Happiness back, then run through the tech tree and get a Science victory. I'll fall back to Domination if I don't feel quick enough progress and the AI starts catching up lategame (which it might due to its scaling bonuses).
Rome and possibly Egypt feel like they could be problematic, which I will need to watch out for in the near future. If push comes to shove, I'll start assembling more troops. I've been working with what I feel has been the bare minimum and if I actually got more troops could've probably finished these wars a lot quicker.

 

[InkAxis]

Nice play through so far, I would just recommend not annexing any cities until you're well above 50% happiness. Personally I never annex/settle below ~40% and rarely below 50%, but that depends of course.

 

[crdvis16]

For vassalage, I believe the way it works is that if the master loses cities or the vassal gains cities then the vassal may demand freedom. So my guess is that you taking some of the Zulu cities shifted the balance of power such that Songhai demanded freedom.

If happiness and production were your main weaknesses then Industry may have been the smartest next tree- it probably would help your cities catch up on infrastructure the fastest. Rationalism certainly can get you to a science victory the quickest but speeding up your tech acquisition might actually hurt your happiness more if you don't have the hammers to build.

Are you using internal trade routes, specifically production? Given your tech and policy lead you probably get minimal science/culture from external ones (not to mention externals get pillaged during wars) so production routes to your cities with the most unhappiness could help.

 

[Necamijat]

Welcome to the next installment of 'The Maya try to go to Space, everybody gets angry at them for no reason. No. Reason. At. All.' (Working title)

To answer some of the questions:

All of our trade routes are going to my cities to boost their production, and I swap them around based on which one is worse off distress wise. At this point, I'm getting 22-23 production from each ITR.

About the Rationalism vs Industry thing, I was of the firm belief that Rationalism's reduction in city needs would be a part of my Happiness salvation. I am still figuring out the game (I never really got to this point before), so I'll take your words into consideration for the next playthrough.

But, we must carry onwards, to victory (or will it be a defeat?).



In Rationalism, we'll pick up Enlightenment, because Happiness, then move and finish the left side of the tree. I don't really use Great Scientists yet, and I don't have Great Admirals to get Luxes from for the second right-side policy.



Our tech tree. I'm undecided on pushing into Modern for any particular tech, and all the ones in Industrial have something to benefit from. Archaeology is the goal now, as Kunas will start producing 7 Science each, making them mini-Academies, and Archaeologists can get me more culture going. Also, Museums with faith.



The AI is starting to ask me for techs. I will use the offers at times, simply because I'm far too much ahead for a single Renaissance tech to count. That might change. It might not. Who knows at this point.



I'm also making a final push to removing Shaka from the continent. Askia wormed his way back to the continent by settling to the north of his initial location (I removed a city from there to make new ones, guess that plan is getting burned).
You can also see that almost every city is working on a Factory. I have 20ish cities, and Factories give +2 Production for each other Factory. That's a lot of Production. I have a decent stash of coal due to my expansive territories.



It's all fun and games until Washington DoWs you from your back (or I guess, north). I'll have to reallocate some units to defend this front. I still lack a navy, and I would need one to push into his (formerly Korea's) territory.


How cute. Shaka has been asking people for favours, I guess.


We approach peace discussions around turn 265. At this point, I've taken every city I wanted, and even one more (the tiny tundra satellite in the south, due to it having Coal access), and puppeted them for the time being (my happiness is still hurting).
But finally, we acquire Shaka as a vassal and can move on to greater things.


Pyongyang is taking hits, and our troops are moving to defend it. Many a ship will be sunk in this war.

In the meantime, enjoy some scenic shots of the Fog of War and other things. It looks like Ceasar has been busy before we met him.

Spoiler Other people's stuffs :

My capital has the most people in it, even though I've spent a majority of the time unhappy and trying to push for more production. The tech lead makes wonders, I guess.


At this point I realise The World's Fair has been enacted (and 45% done) and switch most cities to get Production pumped towards it. Some other cities will wrap up 1/2 turns left to buildings then switch. The AI will probably not invest heavily into it and my cities are nothing if not Production abundant.


World's Fair finishes after me contributing for 2 turns. We nab first place. More Production and Science is always nice, the free Social Policy is even better.
We get 2 Policies at this turn (one from the Fair, one from regular Culture unlocks), which allows us to unlock Eiffel Tower (-10% policy costs). As said previously, we're going for the left side of Rationalism.


I have 4 Antiquity Sites in my borders (to my knowledge), and the first Landmark is made. Most of the Sites will turn out to be Ancient/Classical, giving a lot of culture and gold at this point, which also works for removing some of the Poverty in my cities. They also give global Happiness, which is nice.


We're not getting Long Count yet, but this new Engineer will move to Chichen Itza to help its Distress. Eiffel Tower is started, and the GE would shave 3 turns off it, which is not really much. I have plenty of time as my capital has nothing better to do at this point other than churning out Archaeologists and Wonderwhoring.


The last Industrial tech finishes, and we're pushed into the Modern Era. No AI has reached Industrial so far.
The goal is the same, maintain a tech lead, try to get a Science victory, don't let others win.


Rome looks poised to become host. It would turn out that 2 more AI vote for him. I don't want to pull heavy favours to get voted for (and I really can't, because everyone else hates me).


Washington has had enough of his butt kicked, it seems. The war has been generally uneventful. I lost a Musket or two due to unrelenting ships, he lost the unrelenting ships in troves, and when I got a Field gun and a Gatling gun near his cities and a Fusilier to push forward, he chickened out.
I'm taking the deal, mainly because I don't really need his cities to take care of, and I can finally use some peace time to focus on my goals.
Washington is not really a threat at this point anyway, but Rome seems to becoming one. He's also been plotting against me, according to multiple sources. Good luck on that.


The Eiffel is built, and we're inching towards finishing Rationalism with it.


We discover Oil as our first foray in the Modern Era, and oh my that's a bunch of Oil. Some of it is on the ground and my Workers will rush to improve it. I've removed about 50% of my Worker force to shave off some gold maintenance. They have finished Railroads where I needed them, and will now just work on newly discovered Strategics and the few errant tiles that get pillaged from Events, along with the odd culture expansion that is not ocean tiles.


A golden age goes and comes. See what I did there?

My Happiness has slowly returned to above 50%. At that point I'm considering annexing the cities I got from Shaka, to get them up to speed with the rest of the empire.

A couple of things to note. I started building Chanceries everywhere after ignoring them for a while due to realising I have 5 CS Allies to siphon Gold and Production off (Chanceries give Gold and Production from CS Friends/Allies), which is exactly what I needed to help Poverty and Distress.
Next, I also rushed Circuses and Zoos to get my culture propped up further. This also had the side effect of me being Influential over Shaka and Askia.

Otherwise, I'm focusing on getting more Science where applicable and reducing Unhappiness otherwise.


The last Rationalism policy before we move onto greater things.


Next turn, we get an Ideology prompt. I choose Order, mainly because it suits two of my aimed victories (Science and Domination).


Our first policy will be to get Poverty down and gold sorted. The maintenance reduction will be a major boost in our economy, pushing us from -50s to +120s in a turn.
Our next policy, shortly afterwards, will give us 5 free Factories (and a minor boost to Science and Factory production), although I'm not sure if that actually builds them or just makes 5 of them maintenance-free. I tried keeping track, but my Factory-less cities don't seem to have gained them after the policy.

The puppet cities are mostly annexed at this point, as I have enough Happiness to sustain them. They're the ones that needed Factories, but I don't recall seeing them gain them after the Factory policy. Maybe it needs a turn to take effect and I haven't been making a thorough check.
Also, one of the Archeologists bugged out and stopped being able to dig a Site. Just one particular Site, after being near some Revolutionary (Barbs) troops (caused by an annex-related event). I have changed him to a different Site, and will see if he actually works on that one. Moving another Arch on the previous Site worked in finishing it.
This, along with the 0 influence decay, are the only issues I encountered in my playthrough, but they are not insignificant.
When I finish this game, I plan on making a clean reinstall of VP before starting another one.


Caesar decides to declare war. I simply cannot get peace going for long. I'm impressed. He plans to siege the city that is barricaded by another civ. My ranged troops will split from the north to form defences on the east and west sides of the continent.
The dick also took over (with a coup) my closest Ally in these trying times, Sofia, and now I have to remove Sofia's troops from existence.

I swear I've taken more screenshots, but my Steam Library begs to disagree.
This is how far I've taken this playthrough for now. We'll continue at a later date. Let me know what you think of the game so far.

Current plans are to defend against Caesar (who actually has decent ships, for a change), and maybe get a navy of our own to set up a counterstrike. My capital is building our Corporation (I can't remember which one I chose, but I think it's the Golden Ages one due to simply not needing *that much gold*, even though Poverty is one of the main concerns), and can then focus on ground troops, while the northern coast cities (sans Pyongyang, which is far behind, Production and building-wise) can take care of the navy.

Hopefully, I can get a Science victory off before Rome guns for a Diplomatic one. Those seem the only options so far. Not sure if Egypt can pull something off by then.

In any case, until next time.

 

[Necamijat]

I had some time to spare and decided to play through a few more turns. So there you go, the next part of 'The Maya want to go to Space, it makes people angry.'



Our opening starts with me seeing that Augustus (easier to spell properly than Caesar) decided to go to my western front to attack. Considering the west of the continent is much easier to defend and is better connected, this is a weird choice, but he doesn't really have any other avenues of attack anyway.

I have conquered Sofia. It was a great ally, but alas it must go and become a part of the empire now, as it would just constantly attack into my territory. This also removes one vote from Rome in the Congress.



We open our Golden Ages Corporation. In hindsight, the Gold one was probably a better choice (considering I suffer Poverty issues still), but this was more fun.


Augustus sues for white peace after I sink about 7 of his ships, and I accept. I still lack a navy to push into others.


We get an Empire State Building in the capital, benefiting from the free Stock Exchange. Specialists producing a bit more Gold will be good too.

So far, most of my cities are just working food/production tiles and are rarely going for Specialists, mainly because they are so food/hammer starved that any specialists would just compound the unhappiness.
Kunas are also doing similar work to a Scientist at this point, producing 7/10 Science (Forest/Jungle) and some Culture, and also being able to grant food instead of take it away.


We get free Research Labs a few techs ahead of the curve. I checked, and the Free Factories are just maintenance-free in my first 5 cities (I'm assuming by age). It would be better if they just get built in next cities that don't have them, but beggars can't be choosers.
Literacy is one of the few needs I generally don't have a problem with, but some cities have started complaining on that front too.


We get our Order Wonder in the Capital, granting another policy.

We get some more Happiness/Culture, and Military Academies.


Next up is Cristo Redentor, and I built Hotels in most cities now.


Our next policy is boosting every city by a bit, and they are starting to grow a bit out of control. I've purchased a few Great Scientists with Faith to get the few techs faster. This keeps me at a lead of about a dozen techs ahead of the rest.

Shaka has been asking me for techs in exchange for his luxes, which I take. I need luxes more than I'm afraid of him turning on me.


Augustus declares yet another war, and I'm close to upgrading my Ranged and Siege units and getting Airplanes. I planned to use the new generation of military to get Washington in line and acquire more things for empire, but an organised defence will do for now.
I trade a Gun for about 5 ships each with him. Pretty sure that benefits me more than it benefits him, considering I can just buy units if I really need to defend for now.


Egypt is the next person to get an Ideology, and he also goes Order. I'm fairly sure he's running for a Culture victory, while Rome wants a Diplomatic one. Unfortunately for Egypt, I'm getting a bunch of Tourism-oriented wonders away from him.


Our first Level 3 Tenet is the Iron Curtain. It boosts our economy, our industry, and will allow for easier taking of cities in the future. Trade routes are around 110 food/75 production, and most cities are getting production. I used one for food, as it really does make distress go away faster, and my cities are at the point where there isn't much of anything else to build.

Hospitals and Research Labs are popping up, and I'm not sure if that is making my happiness situation better or worse.


I proposed this, and just tried to deny Rome from getting World Religion. Apparently, Egypt would prefer making a deal with me than letting Rome handle everything in the World Congress.

That's it for this shorter part. Turns are getting a bit repetitive, as I just cycle through buildings in order to try and quell Unhappiness in my cities, while the core has started to make airplanes. My economy has recovered, and I have a bunch of modern units now, and will plan on making a few more to take on Washington. Removing him and Korea from my north should be enough to propel me into victory.

That's it for now, see you in the next part, whenever that may be.

 

[Kingtiger1945]

Fellow VP noob here. I'm really enjoying this playthrough, it's inspired me to start my own!

 

[Necamijat]

Welcome to the final instalments of 'We are Maya. We want to go to space. But everyone is mad at us for some reason.' I am splitting this in two parts, mainly because of image constraints. Should I actually just post an imgur album next time instead of uploading everything on the forums?

Last time, we were heavily in war against Rome (but not really), but he's aiming for a Diplomatic victory, so I need to strike at the surrounding enemies to dash his hopes.



In a move that surprised no one, I declare against Washington. He's my closest enemy that can actually pose an immediate threat, as Rome, Egypt and the Inca are too far away to siege me effectively. He has a defensive pact with Egypt, so they get called in, but won't actually do much of anything in the war.



I take the opportunity to white peace with Rome so I can focus on Washington and not have Augustus send suicide ships from east and west. The AI has made plenty of desperate decisions so far, and I don't expect them to stop. At least he has plenty of ships to burn through before he runs dry.



Washington's offshore cities (some of which he got from Korea) are being sieged partly effectively. My enormous tech lead allows me to get much better units to crush his defences.



The rest of his south falls not much later, and I have acquired a few cities that I keep for myself. Chicago will be mentioned later as a sore point.



We get more spies, and put most of them in City States. I'm trying to remove Rome's influence as much as possible, without needing to send emissaries through.

It's at this point that most of my cities have built more or less everything they can. I am deep into an Unhappiness hole, so I just switch most of them to Culture production. That way I at least get policies faster.



Turn 350 is when I get Manhattan Project. We make a Nuke, and we still don't have Uranium for it. The quarry for one next to Palenque is underway.



Washington realises how badly the war is going and is trying to throw towels at me, but I just push through.



Chicago flips (it'll do that a few times due to me not securing it), and I get an event that gives +1 Population in all cities.
I'll retake Chicago, then Milan will take it, then I'll retake it again.

Events seem to be hit or miss, and I'm not sure how much enjoyment I'm getting from them.
The new pop certainly doesn't help my Happiness issues.



We made headway into his mainland. Most Siege Units pictured here have Range 4 and Logistics, allowing them to make short work of cities that are eras behind defence-wise.
Landships make quick work of the remaining units when I capture a city, allowing me to slowly push inwards.
My Faith production is decent, and I'm just getting Stadiums in every city with my religion.

I won't really bother with converting cities I conquer, as it'd take too much management for little gain. I'm too far ahead to matter, but it's a point I'll need to reflect on.



WLTKD ends in all my cities, and I get this lovely view. This is one of the rare downsides of long wide games. There's a lot of information thrown in your face.



We get a city Washington got from Korea. I'll use this one to make way towards Korea's capital.
I'm still undecided on my victory condition at this point. I can take a few capitals easily, and I'll definitely need to war with Rome to try and stop him winning, considering no one else is even close.



Washington falls as we acquire a third foreign Capital (after Shaka's and Askia's). He's scattering his units and I pull in workers. He seems to have gone for some sort of Scorched Earth strategy, as a lot of tiles behind his Capital are pillaged.



My Unhappiness problems really won't get any better no matter what I try. Even if I ignore the War Wearines, it's simply impossible to break even in a city, let alone outpace the Unhappiness. Only my Capital is doing fine, mostly because of being my Capital.



I can't remember who declared who here, but I'm pushing into Korea next. He has only a few cities and should be a fairly easy target.



Washington capitulates soon after, becoming my 2nd vassal. This pulls Egypt out of the war as well.



Rome declares yet again and sends a navy. I'm building the Apollo Program in the Capital, and the defending cities are using the Defence program. I'll shift some of my ranged units here to defend as well. This war will be largely defensive for now.



We capture Korea's capital, and my intentions are to just force capitulation. He'll resist any peace attempts for a long while.
His holy city is actually a Production Haven, which is a compelling city to get my spaceship parts from.



One Giant Leap for Maya, as we get our 2nd Level 3 Tenet. This allows us to pull even further ahead military-wise.



I've focused on Plane units so far, which have proven amazing in long-distance sieges. I can simply whittle down a coastal city from a Carrier with 4 Planes onboard, then move in with a single embarked unit.



This is what I dubbed 'The City Yo-yo'. Buenos Aires (allied with me) captured Hamhong from Korea, then Rome took it from Buenos Aires. The City State looks to also fall momentarily.



Plot Twist, it was Korea.



United Nations pass. I move all cities to work on that instead of Culture, and it is 98% done that turn, mostly by me. I'm not letting Rome have the largest piece of any cake.



Korea gives up after many attempts of me trying to force capitulation. It took me taking another one tile island and burning it to the ground.

Final Part incoming.

 

[Necamijat]

Due to him becoming my vassal, strange things happen on the City Yo-yo Island.

XCOM squads are dropshipped in after the cities are bombed by airplanes. I probably should've built more military units, or actually had my military leave my continent to actually attack.



I'm sorry, Rome, but we're both going to be dicks this game. The trigger is pulled, and a Nuclear Missile drops on Rome. This marks the start of my offensive campaign on Rome's mainland, after dozens of turns simply defending.



He's close to having the required voting power, but that should soon change.



Rome, decimated and nuked, falls in a quick swoop of my bombers and tanks.



Our newest additions to the military are already proving their worth. GDRs are devastating to every enemy they encountered.



I retake Buenos Aires and set it free. I don't have much use of it, and I don't think Rome will have an easy time allying it.



We finish the Hubble, and are rapidly preparing for the Science victory. I build 4 Spaceship Factories in my other cities, including Seoul, which is boasting 1000 production (and yet is still Distressed).



Seoul is also building the CN Tower to pass the time.



Rome gives in, and I decide to take the peace offer and move to the other enemies. I've taken his Capital and am on a decent trajectory towards Military victory.



Korea literally says nothing about the current state of events.

Peace with Rome also allowed me to flip a few of his cities, and he sits at 35ish Delegates for the World Congress, meaning my work in stopping him has been fruitful.



We got a bunch of Great Scientists, whether from policies, faith purchases, or the Hubble, and are finishing up the tech tree.
This means I can start on Spaceship parts.



Order gets us another boost, allowing me to rapidly finish parts with Engineers, which I've kept in recent years.



We also move towards the Inca. Giant Death Robots will make short work of cities after they've been decimated by Stealth Bombers.
A single Nuclear Submarine will prowl the oceans, randomly picking off errant ships.



Rome is the first AI to reach Atomic Era and finish his Manhattan project, 40ish turns too late to matter.



I managed to Repeal Spaceflight Regulations, removing that footstop out of the way.



I wave at Ramesses with my second nuke of the game. That will be largely regarded as a bad move and will make at least one person very angry.



Egypt is so angry they pop into the next Era.



I unknowingly war on Askia due to defensive pacts. He's nothing much but a thorn in one of my cities' sides at this point.



Spaceship parts are being built and rushed. Off-screen, Seoul is finishing a part as well. Rome decided to be a dick and convert his city, which means it'll lose a significant percentage of its production.



Seoul wrapped up with the Spaceship part and is finishing an Aiport to get the part to the mainland. This would actually have been as quick, if not slower, as just walking the part to the Capital.



Preparations are made.
Elsewhere, Inca cities are falling like flies, and I'm starting to push into Egypt, but it will definitely be too slow.



Askia/Egypt/Inca vs Maya western front as a fade-away picture.



We get CERN in one of the cities, giving us 2 Future Techs. Not even that will be enough to make a dent in our Unhappiness.



The last Spaceship part is being put together in the Capital, and we wave goodbye to this horsehockey world for one where people will just hopefully leave Maya alone to Science in peace.

We finish the game at year 1995 12.19.1.13.16, with one Long Count Present remaining (which would've come in 2012 and would have been a Great General)





After-game commentary: certainly, the worst part of this game has been trying to manage my seemingly endless Unhappiness. I got so far ahead in tech that it actually hurt my Happiness too, but it allowed me to steamroll through my enemies.
Things I could've probably done is try and manage growth in my outer cities, or stop it completely to try and get a hang of Happiness that way. I simply decided to forgo any attempts at city management now, and I think that's going to be a decisive divide between me staying at this level or moving to a more difficult one.
I also could've probably chosen my Religion a bit differently in order to make up for my other lacklustre yields rather than going all-in on Science buildings.

On Maya, I think they're a great early game focused civ. The entire point is to rush Maths and get ahead by receiving rapid-fire Great People early game, as well as skyrocketing your Science output while Atlatls keep you safe from attacks.
Kunas have been compared to miniature Academies that also help you get a religion, and I still think that assessment fits.

I think overall this mod is great, as late-game still leaves you with plenty of choices to make.

I think I'll disable Events for future playthroughs, as I feel they bring some uncertainty to the equation, while also just being plain annoying at times. Most of the time I was just having to go around rebuild Farms, or would just get a notification that I lost a bunch of gold.
I'm not saying Events are bad per se, as they can make a game great if you get good ones too, but I think Vox Populi works well without them as a whole.

This has been me and The Maya winning a game on Prince. See you next time.