Randomized, Forum-Chosen Civilization PhotoJournal

[BlessingsBeUponYou]

Blessings Be Upon You!

I bring, for your viewing enjoyment and/or lament, another PhotoJournal.
In all earnestness, I do hope these are entertaining or amusing to y'all, even with the repeated defeats.

This PhotoJournal will be on King difficulty and randomized, meaning:

• Random map size
• Random world age, temperature, rainfall, sea level
• Random land shapes, ocean shapes, and rift width
• Random starts (starting bias disabled, forced coastal randomized)
• Random resource density and size, where applicable
• Random personalities and random victory conditions

Or, to put it another way:

The Civ I play will not be randomized, but left up to the forum. Whichever Civ gets the most support, either through comments or likes on a comment, over the course of the next 24-48 hours (deadline is fuzzy, but by Sunday) will be the one I play. And then, once more, I will go into the breach. If you like seeing a particular Civ played well, I would highly recommend not attempting to get me to play them, because I can guarantee I will play them sub-optimally.

I look forward to providing content for y'all and actually playing this way. One of my favorite parts of Civ is the initial discovery of what I have as I explore, and this many randomized factors takes the enjoyment to another level.

My next post will hopefully be with whatever Civ the forum has chosen!

 

[gabrielsfarias]

If modded: Macedon
Otherwise: Venice

 

[BlessingsBeUponYou]

Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only - EEENNNRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIICOOOOOOO DAAAAAAANNNDOOOOOOLOOOOOO!

Spoiler T0 :

If I'm being honest, I completely forgot Venice was in the game, so having to play them is going to be interesting. Even in vanilla, when I first played Civ 5, I don't think I ever played this guy. Thankfully, in playing some Morocco games, I've gotten much more familiar with trade-based Civs.

And, with any trade-based civ, I want two things - Petra and Colussus. My settler started one tile west of where it is above, and thankfully my warrior found some coast, giving me a chance at both Petra and Colussus. I'm going the way of the warrior, and it seems like sugar is my monopoly. +10% growth in all cities will be greatly appreciated when the time comes.

Spoiler T2 :

Ta da! Venice! Already in range of three luxuries, with desert around me and tundra above me.

Oh, and who is that to me south-west? A friend? Probably not.

It is Askia of the Songhai! My only hope is the randomized personalities made him more like Gandhi than Askia. Thankfully, despite everyone starting on the same continent, he is a good distance away.

I research Trade because, well, duh. Venice was designed around that tech. It's like beelining writing for Babylon - you do it no matter what. Hopefully my coastal city will have some fish to really boost my population. I also appreciate that it halfway researches Calendar as well for my sugar.

Spoiler T8 :

Rome is north-east, Arabia is west, and Songhai is south-west. While none of them are particularly close, what is close is La Venta. The plan now is to make them happy so they give me faith so I can get a pantheon as early as possible. My understanding is Venice doesn't have a strong religious engine, so hopefully friendship and alliance with La Venta will carry some of that load.

Spoiler T23 :

I've got my monument and shrine, so the next building was either a granary or a lodge. I went with lodge because I wanted the border growth over the population growth. Venice needs to get as many tiles as fast as possible since it will be my most important city. The lodge will also, in a few turns, help with the deer and truffles, so that's a nice bonus. To the north-west I am attempting to defeat the barb camp La Venta has targeted so I can increase my faith production.

Spoiler T26.1 :

Policy time and the clear choice is Progress.

1. It has decent science yields from growth, which will greatly help my early game science since I have no source of it save for what I'll get from my trade routes. I want to grow Venice big, so I might as well get science from it when it happens. This will feed into my culture coming sooner, allowing me to get Petra faster.
2. Extra gold and extra production will go a long way on this start. Venice is all about gold, and the extra +3 gold and free worker will help get my monopoly sooner (once I my merchant settles my second city). The extra production on settlers isn't great for obvious reasons, but it is on trade routes! And I won't turn my nose up at +3 production near the start. It'll help a lot with Petra and Colussus when that comes.
3. +3 food and +3 science from city connections is the real winner here, especially since I can only found puppets. Not only do I not suffer a science penalty for founding new cities, but those cities will actually net me +3 science almost from the start, as well as +3 food for even faster growth!

Spoiler T26.2 :

I'm just kidding. I chose Tradition. I'm not that bad at the game.

Spoiler T38 :

I've found 6 of the 7 AI at this point. Here's the roster:

1. Arabia (Tradition) - middle of the map
2. China (Tradition) - south-west corner
3. Huns (Authority) - south-west corner
4. Rome (Authority) - north-east corner
5. Russia (Progress) - north-west corner
6. Songhai (Authority) - south

Beijing and Attila's Court are 6 tiles apart, so I expect China to be a short-lived AI.

My first merchant has appeared. I named him Gabriel. He's going four tiles north-west of his current location, my side of the river and between the amber, salt, and sugar.

I was the second to a pantheon (thanks La Venta!) and I had a number of options floating around my head.

1. Ancestor Worship - seems an all-around solid choice when there is no clear direction.
2. God of All Creation - another all-rounder with a few more yields than Ancestor Worship. My understanding is every civ has a shot at a pantheon, for a total of 8 this game, so that would produce some nice yields in a few turns once everyone has their pantheon.
3. God of Commerce - I really want to try this pantheon, but unfortunately it was the first one taken. One of these days, maybe with an incense start, I'll try it.
4. God-King - I've been playing Tradition Morocco and every time, without fail, I go God-King. It does everything Ancestor Worship tries to do and more. The immediate +2 hammers saves me 3 turns of Petra right off the bat. Such a good pantheon for Tradition; I often need a reason not to take it. If you haven't realized yet, I took this pantheon.
5. Goddess of Beauty - this is another Tradition one I've looked at, but my Tradition civs want to go Statecraft, not Artistry, so it seems like wasted potential.
6. Goddess of Festivals - my next Portugal game I'm taking this one. Much like God of Commerce, I really want to try this one, and I almost did here. What stopped me, and what normally stops me, is how long it takes to come online. It's a pantheon that'll grow up with time, but I want yields now, not 50 turns from now. If God-King wasn't available, Goddess of Festivals would have been my choice.
7. Spirit of the Desert - if I had more resources on desert tiles, this would have been a contender.

Spoiler T41 :

Gabriel has founded Farias and I have the three luxuries I hoped for instantly. I must say though, puppets are weird. I normally either annex cities or burn them to the ground. I almost never puppet a city, so only having puppets is strange. Farias has decided it wants a council; sounds good to me. My understanding is I can control what they build somewhat by investing in buildings and outright buying units, so I'll have to get used to doing that. Thankfully every civ near me has settled away from me, too.

Also, the last civ is Japan, also in the south-west corner of the map. It's going to be a party down there.

Spoiler T51 :

Woop woop! That's one down and one to go. And as if it wasn't good enough, La Venta also decided it wanted a trade route! I'm gonna be rich! Let's party like its 1204!

 

[gabrielsfarias]

Aww thank you, and take good care of that city.

Beside pantheon (I'd go with All Creation) you're playing like I played when I first tried Venice. Hope you have better luck than me.

 

[azum4roll]

As Venice you definitely don't want to pick any pantheon that gives culture/faith/science/gold per turn in puppets (the terrain/building ones), since all of them would be halved and it's hard to found.

 

[BlessingsBeUponYou]

I wish I was a better player and had a better game to give y'all, but I am not and I do not. I was hoping to at least have some fun, but honestly the disappointment from this one is pretty big.

Spoiler T66 :

I found Rome and the rest of his lands. This is really bad. Thankfully, many of my trade routes go to him, so his economy is just as dependent upon peace as mine is. It is really cramped on my side of the world, and not being able to make settlers really sucks.

Spoiler T75 :

I finally researched Metal Casting, so Colussus will be on the table in 6 turns once I get the next policy. Now comes what to research next, and the thought process goes like this:

1. Sailing - cargo ships and a trade route. 'Nuff said.
2. Education - I want a shot at University of Sankore, so I'm going to beeline it next and hope I get it. There are two other Tradition civs, Arabia and China, and China is getting dog-piled by the Huns and Japan, so I really only have one contender.
3. Guilds - for all those fancy Italian buildings that do fancy stuff. It also gets me currency along the way: extra trade route, caravansary, more gold, and composite bowmen. All goodies I want to have.

Oh, and on a positive note, Arabia (my western neighbor), Songhai (my southern neighbor), and Rome (my northern neighbor) have all denounced me! I'm half expecting the ocean to my east to do the same at this point.

Spoiler T106-108 :

Great. At least Rome hasn't declared war on me yet. This is T106, where I have 7 military units total. In case you're wondering, it doesn't get better from here.

Except for T107-108:

A Great Scientist, Great Merchant, and Great Prophet all spawn on T107. The Great Scientist becomes an Academy and the Great Merchant eventually becomes Cattaro south-east of the main continent near some pearls. The Great Prophet becomes a religion. I was going to name it Azumism, but I forgot to until the next turn and then couldn't figure out how to change the name from there.

In my heart, it was Azumism.

I was 5th to a religion and a lot of my first choices were already gone.

My Founder was between Apostolic Tradition and Council of Elders. Apostolic Tradition won because of the food yields which would equate to growth and because the NW gave Golden Age points. The growth would work well with God-King in the long run.

Mastery was chosen because it made specialists better, which is great in the Capital, and it gave Golden Age points as well. Plus, all the other beliefs greatly relied on non-puppets, which I didn't have. The goal was to create a growth/golden age religion for a big capital, strong culture, and solid yields across the board since I don't know what the win-con is yet.

I got them both! Ha ha! Now I can trade with Antwerp on the little island next to me. All these trade routes are literally making up half of my science per turn. My economy is pretty strong right now, allowing me to buy a few more units against Askia, which is good.

Spoiler TEnd :

Oh no.

Ah, crap.

Man, that sucks.

Rome peaces out with me next turn, leaving me with Farias and a war against the Songhai (and probably Arabia or Rome again in the near future). I don't see the point in continuing from here. I would just be waiting for someone to kill me, little more than a city-state, ironically.

I think I'm going to call it here. My apologies.

Spoiler Reflections :

The only thing I like about Venice is the double trade routes, because I like trade-based civs and large amounts of gold.

Everything else about Venice I either didn't get to or disliked immensely, like not being able to build settlers and having to wait for Great Merchants. I'm sure in the right hands this civ can be good and offer unique gameplay, but not in these hands. I'd rather play Morocco or Portugal, where I have way more success on King difficulty.

In truth, I should have purchased a lot more units once I realized Rome had no land and both he and the Songhai were my neighbors. I trusted my trade routes to save me from Rome and I was sorely mistaken.

 

[adams643]

Damn, that was unlucky. I don't think there's many VP players that could have survived that..

 

[tsmith7163]

Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only - EEENNNRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIICOOOOOOO DAAAAAAANNNDOOOOOOLOOOOOO!

Spoiler T0 :

View attachment 660968

If I'm being honest, I completely forgot Venice was in the game, so having to play them is going to be interesting. Even in vanilla, when I first played Civ 5, I don't think I ever played this guy. Thankfully, in playing some Morocco games, I've gotten much more familiar with trade-based Civs.

And, with any trade-based civ, I want two things - Petra and Colussus. My settler started one tile west of where it is above, and thankfully my warrior found some coast, giving me a chance at both Petra and Colussus. I'm going the way of the warrior, and it seems like sugar is my monopoly. +10% growth in all cities will be greatly appreciated when the time comes.

Spoiler T2 :

View attachment 660969

Ta da! Venice! Already in range of three luxuries, with desert around me and tundra above me.

Oh, and who is that to me south-west? A friend? Probably not.

It is Askia of the Songhai! My only hope is the randomized personalities made him more like Gandhi than Askia. Thankfully, despite everyone starting on the same continent, he is a good distance away.

View attachment 660970
I research Trade because, well, duh. Venice was designed around that tech. It's like beelining writing for Babylon - you do it no matter what. Hopefully my coastal city will have some fish to really boost my population. I also appreciate that it halfway researches Calendar as well for my sugar.

Spoiler T8 :

View attachment 660971

Rome is north-east, Arabia is west, and Songhai is south-west. While none of them are particularly close, what is close is La Venta. The plan now is to make them happy so they give me faith so I can get a pantheon as early as possible. My understanding is Venice doesn't have a strong religious engine, so hopefully friendship and alliance with La Venta will carry some of that load.

Spoiler T23 :

View attachment 660973

I've got my monument and shrine, so the next building was either a granary or a lodge. I went with lodge because I wanted the border growth over the population growth. Venice needs to get as many tiles as fast as possible since it will be my most important city. The lodge will also, in a few turns, help with the deer and truffles, so that's a nice bonus. To the north-west I am attempting to defeat the barb camp La Venta has targeted so I can increase my faith production.

Spoiler T26.1 :

View attachment 660974

Policy time and the clear choice is Progress.

1. It has decent science yields from growth, which will greatly help my early game science since I have no source of it save for what I'll get from my trade routes. I want to grow Venice big, so I might as well get science from it when it happens. This will feed into my culture coming sooner, allowing me to get Petra faster.
2. Extra gold and extra production will go a long way on this start. Venice is all about gold, and the extra +3 gold and free worker will help get my monopoly sooner (once I my merchant settles my second city). The extra production on settlers isn't great for obvious reasons, but it is on trade routes! And I won't turn my nose up at +3 production near the start. It'll help a lot with Petra and Colussus when that comes.
3. +3 food and +3 science from city connections is the real winner here, especially since I can only found puppets. Not only do I not suffer a science penalty for founding new cities, but those cities will actually net me +3 science almost from the start, as well as +3 food for even faster growth!

Spoiler T26.2 :

View attachment 660975

I'm just kidding. I chose Tradition. I'm not that bad at the game.

Spoiler T38 :

I've found 6 of the 7 AI at this point. Here's the roster:

1. Arabia (Tradition) - middle of the map
2. China (Tradition) - south-west corner
3. Huns (Authority) - south-west corner
4. Rome (Authority) - north-east corner
5. Russia (Progress) - north-west corner
6. Songhai (Authority) - south

Beijing and Attila's Court are 6 tiles apart, so I expect China to be a short-lived AI.

My first merchant has appeared. I named him Gabriel. He's going four tiles north-west of his current location, my side of the river and between the amber, salt, and sugar.

View attachment 660976

I was the second to a pantheon (thanks La Venta!) and I had a number of options floating around my head.

1. Ancestor Worship - seems an all-around solid choice when there is no clear direction.
2. God of All Creation - another all-rounder with a few more yields than Ancestor Worship. My understanding is every civ has a shot at a pantheon, for a total of 8 this game, so that would produce some nice yields in a few turns once everyone has their pantheon.
3. God of Commerce - I really want to try this pantheon, but unfortunately it was the first one taken. One of these days, maybe with an incense start, I'll try it.
4. God-King - I've been playing Tradition Morocco and every time, without fail, I go God-King. It does everything Ancestor Worship tries to do and more. The immediate +2 hammers saves me 3 turns of Petra right off the bat. Such a good pantheon for Tradition; I often need a reason not to take it. If you haven't realized yet, I took this pantheon.
5. Goddess of Beauty - this is another Tradition one I've looked at, but my Tradition civs want to go Statecraft, not Artistry, so it seems like wasted potential.
6. Goddess of Festivals - my next Portugal game I'm taking this one. Much like God of Commerce, I really want to try this one, and I almost did here. What stopped me, and what normally stops me, is how long it takes to come online. It's a pantheon that'll grow up with time, but I want yields now, not 50 turns from now. If God-King wasn't available, Goddess of Festivals would have been my choice.
7. Spirit of the Desert - if I had more resources on desert tiles, this would have been a contender.

Spoiler T41 :

View attachment 660977

Gabriel has founded Farias and I have the three luxuries I hoped for instantly. I must say though, puppets are weird. I normally either annex cities or burn them to the ground. I almost never puppet a city, so only having puppets is strange. Farias has decided it wants a council; sounds good to me. My understanding is I can control what they build somewhat by investing in buildings and outright buying units, so I'll have to get used to doing that. Thankfully every civ near me has settled away from me, too.

Also, the last civ is Japan, also in the south-west corner of the map. It's going to be a party down there.

Spoiler T51 :

View attachment 660978

Woop woop! That's one down and one to go. And as if it wasn't good enough, La Venta also decided it wanted a trade route! I'm gonna be rich! Let's party like its 1204!

Loved the joke

 

[Anarcomu]

Next time try Enrico full conquest. Start Pyramids, Authority , then Artistry and Imperialism. That works quit good, especially if you grab the Great Lighthouse too.