Please analyse my strategy..

[IncanCanuck]

Hey all,

I am new to the forums but a reasonably long-time player. I've played all levels, including a couple of victories on Deity.

At the moment I am really enjoying the Earth 18 Civ map. I am really enjoying playing with Inca.

The goal is the settle South America and then (primarily) cottage the amazon for either a Space Race or Cultural victory. More likely Space Race as I don't feel I can cottage the amazon early enough for a Cultural victory.

So... my strategy..

I start by moving my settler 2 spots west, to found Cuzco on the coast. More food, less mountains, trade routes.

My initial Tech order is:
Polytheism > Priesthood > Mining > Writing > Alphabet ...

Capac is lucky to have one food related tech and one economy related tech. I always like to build on the economy related tech and get to Alphabet as quickly as possible. The majority of the time I get to take Hinduism.

My build order is:
Worker (builds 2 farms and a Gold Mine) > Settler (north to the Dye) > Oracle.

I always seem to get Oracle.

At this point I use Oracle for Code of Laws, getting Confucianism and Caste System.

Crucially, I trade for:

• Fishing
• Sailing
• Bronze Working
• Iron Working
• Meditation

With Caste System I start pumping out Scientists and a few Prophets. Bulb the scientists for mathematics, compass etc. Make shrines out of the prophets.

After the trades, I tech to Philosophy for pacificism and possibly a 3rd religion. Then I beeline Liberalism whilst spamming out workers and settlers to settle South America.

I am currently working on a) how quickly I settle South America and b) how quickly those cities are improved, grown and contributing heavily to my empire.

This is where I'm looking for advice.

In my best game I settled a city right in the Amazon, 19 grassland tiles, one hill. I chopped all the jungle, built farms and used Hereditary Rule to get that city to size 20, then cottaged it. Haven't quite been able to repeat that.

I tend to get to just about the point of Liberalism, have multiple "I wish I did that sooner" moments. Any critiques of my strategy and tips on how to expand quickly and efficiently are very much appreciated.

 

[Anysense]

I guess you should not skip BW in favor of Oracle.
Bulbing math and compass sounds like a terrible waste of GP's unless you have a particular reason to do so.
Everything else is too much map dependent, I will have to take a closer look at the map.

 

[rah]

Since it's the earth 18 map, that shouldn't present a problem.

For me the biggest problem on that map is the limited early contact. It's sometimes tough to keep up with the other continent in techs due to the lack of trading options early.

 

[Izuul]

Generally speaking, founding religions and using great people to build shrines is rarely ever a good strategy.

 

[rah]

Normally I agree 100% with that.
But on the earth 18 map, if Monty doesn't get an early religion, getting one and building the shrine could lead to a two continent monopolistic spread of your religion.

But yeah, it's usually just better to let Monty get it and spread it to you. But if both our founded in the old world.........

 

[Timoteo]

IncanCanuck,

This thread from while back has extensive discussion on playing the Incas in the Earth 18 scenario. Even though it focuses on conquest/domination victory, you might find some useful info.


Linkage

Oh...

and welcome to the forum

 

[Kid R]

Hi - what difficulty are you playing on? With any of the new world civs what we can afford to do early on depends on how the tech will compare with the old world when we meet them/they come and meet us.

All those religions suggest you're going for CV which is fair enough, although I think space is winnable on higher levels because it plays better into the very-long-term potential of the land.

Agree with Izuul though, building shrines can't be right