[GS] Sad Face

[SteveJustSteve]

I went for a Deity game. Hadn't played deity in awhile. I'm not that good. I have won a few deity games here and there, but I normally get rolled. Anyway I went for a John Curtain game thinking when I get inevitably declared on that I will at least have a little advantage with production.

The game loads up. The start seems pretty normal. Nothing that special. Except I'm noticing some good mountain clusters that I can snag some +7 campuses. I go with a fairly typical start, slinger and scout. I find a couple scientific city-states near me. I haven't found another civ yet so I push for a settler. I snag my second city. Grab religious settlements for a 3rd city. And I start placing my campuses.

Science is coming in fast. Still haven't found another civ which is super weird. I've got a decent area that could hold 3 cities to the north that could be a great Petra city that is totally encased in mountains connected to the coast. The only way someone could get to me up north would be to take down 2 city states first or come with boats.

I've got the Gallapagos islands in my territory and plop a city near it too. At this point I know that Cyrus and Teddy are my two closest neighbors, but they are pretty far away. Teddy is on the wrong side of the mountains. I have plenty of time to get settled and entrenched.

I'm killing the science game. I've got 9 cities down with room for another 2 nearby. Plus an island off my main area that is currently overrun with barbs that I could work to settle. It's big enough for 2 or 3 cities!

I can't believe how easy this has been. No wars. Teddy likes me. Cyrus isn't a huge fan, but I have 2 cities with encampments protected by rivers and walls. I'm feeling good. I'm able to grab that Petra city and it also has coal so I am pumping out a ton of production in that city.

My capital is able to build Oxford University pretty late. The other civs skipped it I guess. I was also able to build the Kilwa Kisiwani. I have 2 science city states that I am suzerain of. With Pingala in the city my captial is pumping out 115 science per turn! Cyrus is my biggest science competition and he is producing a total of 186 in his whole civ. I'm up over 360 science per turn! As long as I can not get killed I should be able to coast to victory.

I'm pushing for satellites in the information era and no one has declared war on me the entire game. I've gotten my Petra city to start building a Spaceport.

Then BOOM. Game over. You lose. Spain won a religious victory. I almost never pay attention to religion just assuming that the other AI civs will work as a good counter and hold off the enemy religions well enough.

Sad Face.

 

[Vizurok]

Well, thanks for sharing this, it was an interesting read. And it came with a twist, as until the last paragraph, I was thinking that this would be a complaint on how easy Deity turtling is. However, I do not really understand how this could have happened - I have played 50+ deity games over the years and never even seen an AI even coming close to winning a RV (and I almost never found a religion, so I don't really actively counter religious actions). I guess it might be more common on smaller maps, but it seems that you had at least 4 civs, so you were surely not playing a Duel. Could you please share what turn did this happen?

On the other hand, sorry for your loss and better luck next time!

 

[Medopu]

I think it wouldn't hurt to get a warning message each time a civ becomes religion-dominant over another the same way you get messages for culture-domination events.

 

[Victoria]

Yup, I have seen an RV become a possibility on Pangea before, just not continents.
Let’s hope it is fixed for both,
But tx for sharing.

 

[Troy Bruckner]

If I get a late prophet I will save him until I have a bunch of cities with Holy Sites letting the computer run rampant in converting my cities and then found a religion. This is like an instant 10 to 15 Inquisitors.

 

[MrRadar]

I think it wouldn't hurt to get a warning message each time a civ becomes religion-dominant over another the same way you get messages for culture-domination events.

After one close call and a few reports like this here and other forums, I made it part of my routine to check the RV tab (well, all the victory tabs) once in a while, and also look at the general situation on the map with the religious lens. With so much going on, warning messages tend to be quickly forgotten.

 

[Icicle]

I feel like this is a Civ6 rite of passage or something. Happened to me too once, merrily waiting away for my culture victory, video pops up oh hey I was closer than I - oh. Yeah Russia converted the world.

 

[KayAU]

Yup, this is the one way in which I have lost to the AI too.

 

[SteveJustSteve]

Could you please share what turn did this happen?

On the other hand, sorry for your loss and better luck next time!

It was a small pangea map. I didn't mess with any of the settings. Turn 193 I think.

 

[Victoria]

It was a small pangea map

put it down to lessons learnt. it is the one map size it has always been likely to happen on... or tiny pangea

 

[Bangau]

Have had it happen almost a few times. I’ve had a few quite cool strategic religious battles because of it. Either by being forced to declare war to be able to kill their religious units, or by building a prophet defence army to protect my lands. The AI is (sometimes) fairly capable of converting your empire if you fail to check once in a while. If there’s more than one strong religious contender though, you’re safe. They can’t convert each other if two or more have a strong religious ‘economy’. Sadly...