[NFP] Roleplaying El Dorodo/the "noble savage"

[Francel]

Hello there. I wanted to share my last game of Civ with the community in case anyone finds it interesting.

One of the ideas floating around in my head has been trying to get as much a mismatch as possible between science and culture - minimizing science and maximizing culture or vice versa.

I happened to role an incredible start location for Mali and saw a golden opportunity to give this a shot. Although I only had one city, it was an easy win on deity (tiny, 6 civilizations, barbarian clans and corporations, although the latter wasn't too relevant here). I won the game around 1100 AD whilst still not having animal husbandry or masonry, huzzah!

I did make a huge mistake of choosing the religious belief sacred places, which ended up giving me around 15-20 science at the end. Lesson learned!

Mali isn't the land Portugal. Portugal is the sea Mali. Even though I had one city, I was able to get up 8 trade routes at the end. Plenty of gold allowed me to patronize any great merchant I wanted. The flat desert tiles, natural wonder bonus, Reyna, and religious community belief made me rich beyond belief.

Lastly, feel free to share your own yield mismatch experiment. Can you be a nuclear power with no concept of record history, or wield armies of clubmen?

Thanks for reading.


(I came back a couple turns later after building walls to take some pictures)

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

Judging by the Islamic presence in nearby Ottoman cities, I assume you ended up winning a Religious Victory, yes?

 

[Francel]

Yes, I am thinking about replaying without “sacred places” and trying for a culture win. It should be interesting to give this another shot with an even more refined strategy. Well, tbf Paititi doesn’t really necessitate strategy but I think I can be even more of a luddite.

 

[Thormodr]

This is why Civ VI is fun for me. In addition to just straight up playing, you can make up goofy scenarios, limitations or challenges that provide endless opportunities.

Very cool job! I loved the one city challenge in cIV.

 

[PiR]

Nice!!!
Did you play on a low level to avoid being attacked? You'd be crush with that science level I guess.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Did you play on a low level to avoid being attacked? You'd be crush with that science level I guess.

No -

Although I only had one city, it was an easy win on deity

Incredible, no idea how anyone could do that!!

 

[canadamufc]

Did you play on a low level to avoid being attacked? You'd be crush with that science level I guess.

I don't mean to turn this thread into another quality of AI debate, but the AI is really easy to befriend. Send them delegations, send them gifts (especially easy as Mali), and you will best friends with them for the whole game, no matter your science or military score.

 

[Thormodr]

I don't mean to turn this thread into another quality of AI debate, but the AI is really easy to befriend. Send them delegations, send them gifts (especially easy as Mali), and you will best friends with them for the whole game, no matter your science or military score.

Well, it's better than the sociopathic Civilization 5 AI. Miles and miles better.
Personally, I love playing a peaceful game about 70% of the time. It's refreshing to have an AI that you can befriend. Unless you settle near the Maya. That's pretty well unforgivable. Lol.

I do agree that the AI could be a little more game aware in the late game. I certainly see friendships breaking off from having different governments but usually not when the human player is approaching victory.

Anyway, back on topic, a friendly AI lets you do these roleplaying games which I rather enjoy doing. My last roleplaying game with Scotland I set my record with a 44 population city. (Probably could have gone over 50 if I had a little more time.) With Portugal, I set my record with over 5,400 gold per turn and over 1,500 gold in one city alone. (With only 3 or 4 trade routes in the city, I believe.)

With these games, I enjoy a passive, friendly AI. I suppose there could be a switch for a more agressive AI (like raging barbs in cIV) so that everyone could be happy.
Anyway, just my perspective.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: Please do not hijack this thread into an AI discussion. We've had enough of those.

 

[Francel]

Nice!!!
Did you play on a low level to avoid being attacked? You'd be crush with that science level I guess.

Yes, it should have been easy for the AI to conquer me, but my diplomacy game is strong (or they are really dumb, depending on your POV). They just weren't interested in war for whatever reason.

Here are some other tips for playing as a luddite:

1) When low tech, using city state allies as shields can be very helpful (whether leveraged or not).

2) When a neighbor attacks, open additional fronts on their borders (bribe other civs to join the war!).

3) One more thing that mitigates the impact of low tech is the barbarian clans mode, since not too infrequently I can just buy some great units, much more advanced than what I have

4) Delegations are pretty much always accepted on the turn you meet someone

5) Always try to make your first envoy count as 2; also, using your first governor promotion on the diplomat can net a lot of era score as you can usually become the first suzerain of at least a couple city states

5) Defender of the faith deserves a mention - that's my go-to; in a pinch combine with terrain advantages/fortification/choke points