Promised Land Victory on Watery Planet

[vorlon_mi]

I'm thinking about trying for a Purity / Promised Land victory with either NSA or Chungsu. Both of those can make planetfall on the water, so that's an option. That raises some questions about this victory condition.

First, the Earthling settlers need to make their home on land, at least 3 hexes away from cities, correct? Is land required, or could they make a "colony" in shallow / coastal water?

Can the gate be built in the water? If it is, are the Earthling settlers embarked when they come through the gate? Giving that some more thought, the gate would be much easier to defend if I built it on land, further inland.

How often do y'all go for a Promised Land victory?

 

[Sclb]

Both the gate and the earthling cities can be in water although not recommended since settlers only have 1 movement
No idea if they come already embarked in water but would make sense anyways otherwise they would be unable to move the turn they spawn.
For that victory I recommend leaving some spaces between your cities so that you can plan 4 cities relatively close to your capital or another high production city. Build the gate there and connect the future settler cities spot with mag rail. If done correctly you should be able to settle 1 settler per turn on average.

 

[Kaushad]

It's easier in a way, because there's no terrain slowing the settlers down. As I recall, they travel at two tiles per turn in the water. They aren't as fast as they would be on a magrail network, but you have to research and build that. Of course, it can be even easier for enemy navies to navigate. But if your capital is an ARK, the "recruit defectors" covert operation gives you naval units, so you'll probably be able to fight the AI's bloated navies. If you can't, your coastal cities and ARKs are in danger anyway.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Interesting notes from last night's game: Playing as INTEGR, going for a Promised Land victory. As noted above, I spaced out my cities. My starting land mass was more like a fat peninsula than I would have preferred, but it has enough space to host 4 settlements.

1. One of the AI (Al Falah) got a jump on building the Beacon. She was half a world away, so I began to assemble a naval strike force. At the time, I was still at level 13 in Purity and had not yet researched Nanotechnology. She completed the Beacon on turn 229.... and has still not ignited it (as of turn 280). According to my covert agent in Ard, her economy is very weak -- only 10-15 energy per turn.
2. Another of the AI (PAC) declared war on Al Falah. Must have been an objector? Not only did her tanks attack Ard, but an level III Artillery glided over and took a shot at the Beacon! Good work! I had not seen an AI attack another AI's victory wonder before. Alas, PAC didn't bring enough troops to destroy the un-lit Beacon before declaring peace and getting a city in the deal.
3. As it happens, Daoming is also driving towards Purity. She has started building her gate around turn 277. I had been building a few more production-enhancing buildings to speed up building of my gate, so I cut that short and started my gate on turn 279. Related to the topic, PAC has put their gate in the water. So far, we're still "Cooperating", so I will send over a Ripper that I control to watch what the AI does. PAC has a lot of aquatic cities, not spaced very far apart, so I expect her to take multiple turns to find homes for them.
4. Once started, my gate will complete in fewer turns since I have more production-per-turn than PAC. Plus, I have a magrail network set up. The two AI who objected to my wonder (KP and FI) are both pursuing Supremacy, not Purity. My hypothesis is that if an AI is pursuing a different affinity than the human player, they are more likely to object when the human player pursues an affinity victory. I don't have enough data to guess which AI would object if I were pursuing a Contact victory.

 

[Sclb]

I thought whenever my affinity is different, then they hate me. It’s just like the ideology of civ v since these games are similar in a way. It’s kind of funny they almost always declare war on me near the end on higher difficulties since they’re more aggressive but always get destroyed once they get close.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Additional updates:

1. PAC actually did finish her gate before I did. Somewhere along the line, when I wasn't watching closely, she cranked up production in her capital to 83 per turn (are those "nuts per turn"? In other Civ games we called them "shields per turn" or "hammers per turn"). An unpleasant surprise.
2. Since she has few roads near her gate -- indeed, has a bunch of forests -- she summoned two Earthling settlers over the last 10 turns. They have been strolling through the woods to get to a good site.
3. Production of my gate slowed just a bit, due to lack of trade routes. Kavitha and Elodie had been the objectors, so they each declared war before my gate was finished. I repelled Kavitha's half-hearted naval sorties and used my navy (that had been assembled to take down the Beacon) to invade Elodie. By turn 300, I have eliminated Franco-Iberia and have reduced KP to 2 cities.

Al Falah has still not ignited her Beacon, though it is finished. PAC has declared on her again, perhaps making a bid to destroy the Beacon.

Since I can settle my Earthlings faster than PAC, I should be confident of victory.

Does anyone know...
-- If I wipe out an Earthling Settler *unit* before it "settles", clearly the AI will have to fetch another. If I destroy one of their settlements, with 2 or 3 Earthlings in it, what is the effect? Do they have to re-summon, or do they get credit for those towards the total for victory?
-- That influences my plans when I try for a Purity victory when playing NSA on a watery planet. If I need to actually *guard* my Earthling settlers or not. I don't want either the aliens or a rogue AI hover tank attacking my Earthling settlements.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Current game is NSA going for a Purity victory, but it's a Terran planet - big oceans with big land masses also.

As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours." Going into the late game (around turn 250), I'm getting ready to build my gate. PAC is on my continent (4 cities) to my northwest; she finishes her Beacon. I was watching, so I had a strike force pre-positioned. Polystralia is along the northern polar region of my continent, going for Supremacy. FI is on the other continent, also across the northern portion and also going for Supremacy.
Chungsu has 3 cities on the southwest part of my landmass, with a medium-sized navy cruising around, hunting aliens. ARC and Kozlov are spread along the southern coast of the other landmass. Elodie and I have beat up on the SF, taking all but one of his cities. Fielding just kept declaring on me, so I took her out.

Start building my gate, which makes Chungsu and Polystralia mad. Franco-Iberia is still Cooperating. But she finishes her Emancipation Gate about 8 turns before I finish my Exodus Gate. My navy is still occupied, mopping up warships from Chungsu and Polystralia. OCC Kozlov declares on me -- again -- because "reasons". Elodie starts sending *ships* through her gate, since she built it in the water. Because "reasons."

I basically need to be at war with everyone, everywhere, all at once. I think that I can muster a carrier strike force and take out Elodie's gate before she wins. I'm going to try to settle Earthlings as fast as I can, knowing that the other two will never make peace until they're dead.

 

[Protok St]

need to be at war with everyone, everywhere

Lets go Multiplayer party and enjoy competitive fight =)

 

[vorlon_mi]

Current game is NSA going for a Purity victory, but it's a Terran planet - big oceans with big land masses also.

As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours." Going into the late game (around turn 250), I'm getting ready to build my gate. PAC is on my continent (4 cities) to my northwest; she finishes her Beacon. I was watching, so I had a strike force pre-positioned. Polystralia is along the northern polar region of my continent, going for Supremacy. FI is on the other continent, also across the northern portion and also going for Supremacy.
Chungsu has 3 cities on the southwest part of my landmass, with a medium-sized navy cruising around, hunting aliens. ARC and Kozlov are spread along the southern coast of the other landmass. Elodie and I have beat up on the SF, taking all but one of his cities. Fielding just kept declaring on me, so I took her out.

Start building my gate, which makes Chungsu and Polystralia mad. Franco-Iberia is still Cooperating. But she finishes her Emancipation Gate about 8 turns before I finish my Exodus Gate. My navy is still occupied, mopping up warships from Chungsu and Polystralia. OCC Kozlov declares on me -- again -- because "reasons". Elodie starts sending *ships* through her gate, since she built it in the water. Because "reasons."

I basically need to be at war with everyone, everywhere, all at once. I think that I can muster a carrier strike force and take out Elodie's gate before she wins. I'm going to try to settle Earthlings as fast as I can, knowing that the other two will never make peace until they're dead.

Good News, part 1: My carrier strike force reached the neighborhood of Elodie's gate. She had ~350 more points left to push through before she would win. Hit it from the air, bombarded with subs, finished it off with a destroyer on the first turn of the war.

Bad News, part 1: The valiant destroyer, along with two bombard ships for escorts, were killed in the counter-attack.

Good News, part 2: The subs and the carrier retreated, with the air wing killing FI ships who were pursuing.

Good News, part 3: My western fleet took all 3 Chungsu cities, as they were all coastal or aquatic. They have moved further west, approaching the eastern border of Franco-Iberia.

Bad News, part 2: Le Coeur is landlocked, so I can't take it with sea power. So is Ard, which Elodie conquered around turn120. Elodie starts building another gate, this time on land.

Final Good News: I'm settling Earthlings each turn, with my land troops and air cover keeping Hutama from invading from the north. I should be able to win before anyone threatens my gate.