I've started one of sorts but I have no idea how it will play out. I'm not doing the no city challenge. I wanted to at least found a city. I didn't turn zombies on for it either but I might change my mind. I dislike barbs as it is but I know they are a necessary evil and zombies are barbs and I thought that the addition of them would drive me crazy. I am doing it on Deity. I turned SS, Barb Clans, and Heroes on. I always play on Marathon with huge maps. I know the Youtubers tried multiple times for their challenges to succeed and a lot of times it's all about luck with the barb spawns.
I couldn't find any barbs at first, no scouts, nothing. Then when I finally found a camp, 2 CS were attacking it. Then I met Korea and I was like "Oh great." and she was patrolling around going for the barb camps and likely coming for me next. I was about to restart because I wasn't finding any or enough barbs. Then I finally found a scout and followed it. There was a big barb horde around it and I got so excited at finally finding a good amount of barbs. None of the camps I found had UU in them, they were just warriors and spearmen. I know there are different types of clans but I wasn't finding any of them. I know it's all down to luck. I was so happy when I found a group of barbs, I didn't care what they were. I think there were 5 of them in one conversion. I got 2 slingers, two warriors and a spearman. I think I converted another group after that too, but it was maybe 3 barbs.
Then I headed for Korea. She was already teching like crazy. I wasn't planning on keeping her city, I wouldn't have been able to hold it anyway. I had unlocked vampires for SS so I had him lead the charge. I managed to raze the first city, but then she started cranking out chariots. I had unlocked archery but I needed to bring my slingers back to upgrade them. I am not planning on building any units, they all have to be captured, with the exception of battering rams, siege towers. I did make some catapaults because it's not often you see barbs with those unless they go unchecked for a long time. I allowed myself siege weapons, but I will not make any more than those. I also found the Twins, so I used them to capture AI and barb units. So yeah, by the time I had razed Korea's first city she got her walls up and chariots out. I couldn't do much about it until I unlocked battering rams, found some iron to upgrade my warriors, and upgraded my slingers to archers. I nabbed her settler and accepted peace when she asked. But of course that was only until I was able to return with more units and a battering ram to break her walls.
I saw her heading my way with catapults, so I declared on her again as soon as I was able. She was a hard nut to crack but taking on the hardest one first was probably my best bet. I needed to stop her from getting more advanced. I had outdated units, but lots of them, so eventually I wore her down. Again, I am only using converted barbs or enemy AI units with the Twins, with the exception of wall breaking units. Monty was my next target, a lot of his cities had no walls and I think Gran Colombia was already hammering him. I'm razing his cities too, just keeping capitals. He's almost out. Next is Gran Colombia, then the Mapuche. I don't know who else is on the map yet as I went right for Korea as soon as I had a good amount of barbs to launch an attack. I am not sure how it will work out, but I am hoping my military strength will make up for my lack of tech. I am last, so I will have to crush everyone before it gets too late in the game. I think the other civs are on another landmass as it appears there are only 4 on the one I spawned on. I probably should have picked a pangea map. A lot of times I forget to do something when setting up a game. I do have some barb ships, though. I can upgrade them once I get the tech and head out to find more targets. Then I'll likely hire a barb or two on whatever landmass the other AI are on and get converting again.
I know it's not a no city challenge but it's my own personal challenge. It is pretty fun but I might have to restart and I might decide to add the zombies. I am hoping I'll have enough with what I have. The combo of converting and having the Twins is pretty good. It's my hope that my vampires will be able to attack cities without the need of siege weapons. One of them has seen quite a bit of combat so he must be getting pretty strong by now.