Polynesian 1.18 Paragon

[Rafaelito]

The Polynesians used to be quite manageable on Paragon level, but recent updates made things trickier. Culture now grows more slowly on ocean tiles, and both the Maal (UB) and Moai Statues require extra tech. Still, after many failed attempts, I found a consistent way to win


Early Game

• Settle your capital on the northern island and your second city on the eastern one.
• Build a shrine in both cities, alternating the clam improvement with the second city so you can rush their growth to size 3 and 2 simultaneously.
• For the third city, settle on the Sugar island, even though it’s foreign territory, as it grows faster and gives you extra cash and production.

Research & Great People Management

• Research Divination first, and assign a priest in both your capital and Sugar island.
• Then beeline monarchy > shipbuilding > navigation > masonry > construction.
• Important: Ensure your first Great Person is born in the Sugar island. That because your capital can generate the next one faster.
• Aim to pop two Great Priests early and settle them immediately in your capital to sustain research.

When you settle Mahira, work a priest + artist at level 4 to secure another Great Priest about 10-15 turns before the Moai Statues deadline. Make sure to settle this one on the eastern island so you can build the wonder just in time.

Switch to deification, monarchy, thalassocracy and slavery immediately when available.


Your third Great Person must be a Great Artist—use them to culture bomb the second northern island, unlocking access to Hawaii.


Trade & Connectivity

• Found a city on the gold resource in Papua New Guinea. This gives access to the cape/coast, connecting your trade network to the rest of the world.
• Sell resources aggressively (even your gold) to maximize income.

Economy & Research
With income from settled priests and foreign trade, I was able to maintain my research slider between 60–80% for most of the game, which is absolutely crucial to pull off a Paragon victory.


The run is somewhat luck-dependent, since hitting this exact distribution of GP is key.

 

[Rafaelito]

Edit - New record: 980 AD

This time, I settled in Papa New Guinea very early in the game, giving me early access to trade networks, boosting my trade routes, cash from exportation and tech divergence discounts.

 

[Dracosolon]

I'm definitely not sure if this is a new error or not, but I'm playing certain civs like Polynesia and Maya. It feels almost impossible to meet their requirements for a historical victory when I played them even in the Heir mode (AKA easiest difficulty). For the Mayas, it just feels like it cuts it paper-tight for me to be able to reach Calendar so quickly even on Heir difficulty. But most importantly, I'm playing Polynesia right now and my thoughts are fresh.

I've had better and better ideas to get closer to a historical victory by settling in the four regions - New Zealand, Marquesas, Easter Island and Hawaii, and I've increased my own efficiency to get there, but it feels like the tasks are absolutely painful with unreasonably long production times, whilst food isn't too bad at least. Research though is also a problem and it feels like I am very far behind the rest of the world. I failed to settle any of the four regions by 800 AD in all three time modes (Marathon, Epic and Normal), but I did get to Marquesas and Easter Island later. Hawaii and New Zealand are very hard, because you need to wait a very long time just to get to Compass to explore all ocean tiles, or focus the hell out of producing cultural buildings or getting to the Literature tech to output culture rates, as you can explore any ocean, coast or cape tile if it's within your borders. Tereitaki and Avarua are two settlements in particular which are pretty much your only viable options that can help you get to Hawaii and New Zealand respectively, but they depend on culture reaching just one tile to diagonally proceed to the coasts connecting those islands.

Are historical victories supposed to be *that* hard?
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Replying here.

I checked again and Polynesia is still relatively easy, even if it requires some trial-and-error and micromanagement to get the most efficient timing. You don't need to research Compass nor Literature, your comes from buildings and artists, with the UP making it possible to cross the ocean.

Aga'e, your northern core city, can work the two food resources and produce a lot of Settlers with Monarchy (Ceremony should be your first tech researched for the Mala'e UB). Alofi works two Islands and produce Waka UUs and maybe city defenders for . They also need some combination of Palace, Pagan Temple and/or Mala'e to expand.

A third city will build a Mala'e then work an artist that will later be used for a culture bomb allowing you to settle toward Hawaii - so this third city should be where you also want the third ring. A few versions ago that was Mu'a (southwest core), to reach the path to New Zealand, but now it's Avarua (southeast of Alofi). Other cities can also work artists for faster expansion.

Tech-wise you only need Ceremony for the UB+Monarchy and Navigation+Construction for the Moai Statues. Shipbuilding (Harbors) and Divination ( from Pagan Temples) are nice to get on the way to Navigation.