[Realism Invictus SVN 4573] - First Monarch Game

[donblas]

I've spent awhile bouncing back and forth between Civ 4 and 5, never getting any good. I've become a huge fan of the RI mod, and decided on my day off to start a play through thread.

I'm posting the updates here:

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/

but will bump this thread with a link to the newest updates as they come in.

I'd appreciate any help\suggestions, but do note that RI is pretty different than BTS base.

 

[donblas]

Through turn 194 or so.

Would people have preferred I post updates here instead of a 3rd party site. I opted for that due to the number of images I used?

 

[Jwitti]

It's great! most of the people back when I was active in the stories and tales did stories like this, although they did the pictures on here, usually through imageshack and then in spoilers so that it helps the page load faster..
I too am a lover of RI although Prince scares me a bit and monarch.. no thanks. Let alone the apparently infernal Immortal and Deity.
What amazing luck you had getting toolmaking AND woodworking from huts.. wow!

 

[donblas]

Yeah, next playthrough I do I'll post here instead of a tumblr, even if it is more work (want to finish current game).

Thanks for the encouragement, wasn't sure anyone was reading.

Updates starting for tonight (Turn 278) http://tmblr.co/ZfeNBq11dCG_d

 

[Darkphoenix]

I've spent awhile bouncing back and forth between Civ 4 and 5, never getting any good. I've become a huge fan of the RI mod, and decided on my day off to start a play through thread.

I'm posting the updates here:

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/

but will bump this thread with a link to the newest updates as they come in.

I'd appreciate any help\suggestions, but do note that RI is pretty different than BTS base.

Following.

It's a bit of a shame that you started this with a revision right before all the fertile feature was added, would have loved to see another player's take on it. But it is of course, a bit hard to keep on top of those updates.


I wouldn't consider myself an RI master, especially after I've seen some of the latest posts with people trying to win on immortal and above...

Emperor is where I stake my claim. I'm also a nearly 100% "Huge World Map" player, so I don't have the experience with random maps, so my advice may be off slightly sometimes. Starting up my own random map game as I type, so I can try out the new features while I wait for the world map to get updated to include them.

Great looking start, the winery will do wonders for happiness once you unlock Taverns... I think I might have missed it, not sure, but what size map are you playing on?

 

[donblas]

Two more posts (end of http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/2). Two surprise attacks and Rome's back against the wall!

It's a bit of a shame that you started this with a revision right before all the fertile feature was added, would have loved to see another player's take on it. But it is of course, a bit hard to keep on top of those updates.

After this game, I'll update to the latest SVN (and rebuild the artwork pack) and check it out.

Great looking start, the winery will do wonders for happiness once you unlock Taverns... I think I might have missed it, not sure, but what size map are you playing on?

Yeah, I should have rushed taverns much sooner. Jewelers really helped though (with both gold and silver available). I'm playing a standard RI generated map with all standard settings.

Edit - Last post up for the night. I'm in a bit of a pickle with my army, but my defenses have stabilized.

 

[Pindrus]

Fun story you are posting! I'm not sure exactly where you are at techs, but I find in RI that wonder failgold is very valuable for pushing techs while maintaining armies. Maybe Colosseum or Great Wall or something that would get an additional bonus from your stone is still available? If nothing else you can build national wonders in multiple cities then complete somewhere for an infusion of cash.

It looks like you could continue to get some further bonuses from OB with Ethiopia, so probably worth keeping them around and focusing on taking out the Americans.

 

[Manco Capac]

Fun story you are posting! I'm not sure exactly where you are at techs, but I find in RI that wonder failgold is very valuable for pushing techs while maintaining armies. Maybe Colosseum or Great Wall or something that would get an additional bonus from your stone is still available? If nothing else you can build national wonders in multiple cities then complete somewhere for an infusion of cash.

It looks like you could continue to get some further bonuses from OB with Ethiopia, so probably worth keeping them around and focusing on taking out the Americans.

Definitely spot on. While marble is stronger on base BTS, on RInvictus, stone is the master early game. Not only most wonders are sped up with stone, but that also speeds up walls (not for the defense bonus, but for the happiness from Despotism/Monarchy civic. And to push the fail gold envelope further, it gives normally great extend of Ishtar Gate for more fail gold. Quite often wonders necessitating a pre-req building takes longer time to go away. And at last, a hidden powerful bonus from stone to push the greatness of having it is paved road improvements for early 3 movements. Unless I am missing something, I have recalled I couldn't make more paved roads when my stone was pillaged, thus it's a powerful hidden bonus of stone.

And yes, fail gold from twicely sped up wonders by stone is fourfold stronger than building wealth. Already, it was looked upon pretty strong in base BTS, but now it's ridiculous. Especially how much you can milk. Even failing a wonder without modifier like gold, marble, ivory or stone isn't the end of the world because it's twice as good as wealth.

And since RInvictus made hard expansion economy killer, that leaves time to start some wonders/infra unless some neighbour is really close. Never trust a K-mod AI.

 

[donblas]

The war with America goes well:

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3

Looking for some thoughts before plunging into more warfare.

 

[donblas]

Another 43 turns and a post. A 3rd war with Washington, another city taken. He's not making it easy, those horsemen are so good.

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3

 

[sjodster]

I am enjoying this very much!

 

[donblas]

Turn 503, the war is over, America is now a holding of the glorious Roman empire. Now its time to pick up the pieces.

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3

Glad that you are enjoying, I was fearful nobody was reading it

Update: Turn 536, the Roman economy has bounced back and we are the most powerful in the known world.

 

[Manco Capac]

Glad that you are enjoying, I was fearful nobody was reading it

And I hope people will keep their interest keen. It usually not easy for a mod lover to express its love in S&Tips since it is known people here are entirely closed to mods. You see, those people who commented are comming from the Realism Invictus thread; they are not really native of S&Tips subforums.

A simple remark as I see that quite often: from what stems the assumption of raging barbs? In my games, there are no such thing. In fact, I find it pretty tame. And I regularly play either EMP or IMM. Is it because World Map default option or random maps also have that on default?

 

[donblas]

Up through turn 593. In which inflation destroys any economic growth. Is it really supposed to be 1/3 of my total costs at this point in the game?

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3

A simple remark as I see that quite often: from what stems the assumption of raging barbs? In my games, there are no such thing. In fact, I find it pretty tame. And I regularly play either EMP or IMM. Is it because World Map default option or random maps also have that on default?

In a standard civ 5 game (and civ 4 back when I played) it didn't feel like you had to rush archery and plan around keeping your 3 farms from being pillaged 50 turns into the game. Much of the aggression you had to worry about it felt like was other world powers.

 

[donblas]

Last turn for the year (visiting family). Catch everyone next year. Merry Christmas!

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3

 

[donblas]

Back from vacation and ready to keep things moving.

Only one post for the night, but it's big in importance. The Chinese attack, are repelled and had of a world map making it obvious how big the world really is. I'll have to make a longer term game plan tomorrow.

http://tmblr.co/ZfeNBq12-2dGi

 

[donblas]

Here's my analysis of the current game state.

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/post/72035176235/turn-681-analysis-with-the-dramatic-reveal-of

Any advice from people who've played RIs midgame?

 

[donblas]

Rome has conquered the known world. Last two posts:

http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/3
http://gloryofrome.tumblr.com/page/4

I was so far ahead in tech (I didn't realize how far I was ahead), that I just churned out an army and took out everyone except my ally. I plan on doing some analysis of my thoughts on RI in their forum, but a few things I need to do better:

- Bump the difficulty
- Actually use my religion. I didn't spread it at all, I didn't abuse the unique unit until 1\2 through the game.
- Specialize cities better
- Use specialists better

Thanks everyone for reading along!