Shoshone Deity Huge Empire Challenge Series!

[Volcanon]

Bro you need to settle more one tile islands. The empire must GROW.

 

[danaphanous]

I did see some one-tile islands to the west, maybe my caravel will tell me more

Part 22 is out! Several other nations adopt ideologies and one has some influence with me putting our new happiness in jeapardy! :O

Part 22: Enemy Ideologies!

 

[psparky]

This is a fun and informative series but I started watching late and can't catch up And now you have a new series that I really want to watch too!

Just watched #17 (just before ideologies, you spent the gold you were saving for third factory on a CS after going unhappy). You lost a cotton deal with Washington as he only had a single copy when you went to the trade screen. However, the trade screen only shows the number he can potentially trade, so he might have a second copy from a CS, in which case he will trade his (apparently) last copy in the normal way. It's definitely worth proposing the trade in this case [sorry if you already know this, but it didn't look like you clicked propose]

Is there a specific reason why you don't use EUI? One of it's best features is a display of luxuries available for trade so you don't have to check every turn. I think it's great anyway, but when making videos it means you don't have to choose between either slowing play down by checking every turn or missing possible trades. I think the latter has happened in this game, affecting happiness and both making the game harder and limiting expansion (which was a major theme). BTW, EUI does notice trade situations with apparent single copy luxes.

Looking forward to watching more videos.

 

[danaphanous]

You aren't too far behind if you just watching #17! Only 5 to go! Glad you are enjoying the two series.

Thanks for the comments! I check both this thread and the video comments, but if you want other viewers to learn from your suggestions then you might want to post them to the video in the future. Only the civfanatics viewers see this.

I knew that I could trade away my last lux if I had a CS ally but I had never been able to find an AI that did the same. I assumed it worked but I honestly never kept an eye out for it since it wasn't obvious. No specific reason, other then laziness I don't have EUI. It sounds like the EUI mod is very useful! I'd seen a few youtubers use it but had never gotten around to downloading it myself as it looked rather complicated to learn. Is there a guide or video you can link me to get me up to speed on using it so I'm not stumbling around in the video trying to find things? I do like the condensed popup windows. The current overlay hogs too much of my map screen in videos.

As for the factory gold, I think I commented I knew I was giving it up, but that CS ally was pretty valuable. I figured I could borrow the gold if need be to get my factory and that's exactly how it worked out in Part 18 so I got both. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely check out EUI now that I know it streamlines some annoying time consuming things!

 

[psparky]

You aren't too far behind if you just watching #17! Only 5 to go! Glad you are enjoying the two series.

Thanks for the comments! I check both this thread and the video comments, but if you want other viewers to learn from your suggestions then you might want to post them to the video in the future. Only the civfanatics viewers see this.

I knew that I could trade away my last lux if I had a CS ally but I had never been able to find an AI that did the same. I assumed it worked but I honestly never kept an eye out for it since it wasn't obvious. No specific reason, other then laziness I don't have EUI. It sounds like the EUI mod is very useful! I'd seen a few youtubers use it but had never gotten around to downloading it myself as it looked rather complicated to learn. Is there a guide or video you can link me to get me up to speed on using it so I'm not stumbling around in the video trying to find things? I do like the condensed popup windows. The current overlay hogs too much of my map screen in videos.

As for the factory gold, I think I commented I knew I was giving it up, but that CS ally was pretty valuable. I figured I could borrow the gold if need be to get my factory and that's exactly how it worked out in Part 18 so I got both. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely check out EUI now that I know it streamlines some annoying time consuming things!

There is a video linked in the download page, although it's pretty old now so doesn't include all the features. There isn't a guide beyond the feature list.

Technically it isn't a mod as it goes into DLC (but doesn't show up in the in-game DLC list). Doesn't affect saves or achievements for example.

I've played with it for so long that I forget some of the changes, but I don't recall "condensed popups" being a feature, unless you mean the notifications where those of the same type are often bundled into a single button that you click multiple times to see the individual messages. If anything, it probably clutters the screen more so perhaps you won't think the benefits are worth the cost.

It's probably best to use it for a while to familiarize yourself with how it looks and which features/options you want to use before you use in a video. In particular, check out the civ ribbon, the city screen and the leader (trade etc) screen.

Hope you like it!

 

[Jarhead60]

Finally bought BNW. Watched the first four but clicked on the link to #5 and it is says it is private. ?!?!?!?

Same problem with #8

 

[docbud]

I finally caught up.

 

[danaphanous]

hey Jarhead, sorry about that. #5 and #8 had bad audio problems. I ended up taking them down. I'll remove the links. You will find a small recap of #5 and #8 on the following episode telling you what was missed. Enjoy BNW!

Glad to hear docbud. I'm about to settle into a more regular upload schedule so hopefully it is easier to follow.

 

[docbud]

^^You're doing fine with how you are uploading. I was just falling behind due to work and stuff, and not finding time here and there.

I'm enjoying the series and am learning a lot--though I admit--I rarely play wide (until my conquests and they are puppets). But I have fun watching you do it.

 

[danaphanous]

ok great. I had planned to alternate Shoshone Empires and the new series, there should be around 2-3 episodes of each a week so a bit less of Shoshone but more overall between the two series. It's a nice feeling getting to play late AND early games at the same time. I may keep up this kind of a system! trying to decide if I should start up a new thread for the new series or keep this one. As far as I know I can't edit titles of threads though?

 

[danaphanous]

Parts 1&2&3 of the new series, 4-Strategy Deity Showdown are out! Hope you guys are enjoying the concept, I can tell you it's a blast to play so many starts and civs in one game! I'm probably having the most fun trying to make the poorer starts work it tbh Go Mayans!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

 

[Jarhead60]

All caught up on the first series (my wife hates you). Learning a lot and it is neat to see BNW in action since I just got it and have not really got into a game with it yet. Feels like there is so much to learn with all the changes from G&K.
Gonna hold off on the new series so I can play some BNW on my own.

 

[danaphanous]

Yeah, I remember my own transition from G&K to BNW. It was awesome. So many more intricacies and features to work with! I never went back. I hope you enjoy your own games and to see you again soon! I hope I don't cause too many more marital problems lol

Part 23 is out, it is getting progressively more about management here towards to end as I grow and accelerate my science rate. But it's going up by almost 100 science every few turns I play. Very close to being tech leader now despite the wide empire and you'll see the power of a tall/wide build very soon when I get these critical buildings down. I also finally set a date for the death of Venice, cannons and an assault team are on the way but in the meantime I continue to skirmish for xp as my big cities finish the hydro plants.

 

[Jarhead60]

Man, you gotta be more careful when switching from lump some trades to gold per turn. Right off the bat in 23 you went from taking a lump sum for gold, said you would switch back to two's but never changed it to gold per turn so you gave up that iron for just 2 gold. The good thing is it will set it in my mind to double check those sorts of things in my games.

 

[danaphanous]

I know, I noticed it as soon as I started editing xD. It's not a mistake I normally make but I think talking while recording distracts me haha. Glad you learned my lesson

A good way to make sure you never make silly mistakes like this is to clear the table then restart the trade. I usually do this but was trying to play fast.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

If you need any help with installing/using EUI I would gladly help you, just PM me. Though I don't think you will need help at all, it is so easy and intuitive you will be able to adapt in no time.

Something else I've noticed is that you manually fortify your units. Fortify is keybound to "F", I think your playthroughs would be a little faster and have more actual playtime in them if you got to know the keybinds.

You can even change them, but that's another story for another day

 

[danaphanous]

^^^
Great point. Back with civ3 I knew all the binds but when they changed in 4 and 5 with all the new improvements I never relearned them. I'll be sure to look them up and thanks for the feedback! I don't anticipate problems installing EUI. It will maybe start to be used in a few weeks once I have the time to practice with it in off-camera games.

Another thing I've noticed is some latency when recording when the game switches between units and when I perform actions. This does not happen when I am not recording but it, again, slows things down in the actual recording. I may mess with my resolution and video settings again which were optimized to be the max my computer could handle BEFORE I started recording and apparently the recording software takes a chunk of the GPU. I probably don't need high water textures for instance.

I jumped up to Deity pretty fast, I think my 10th game or so was Deity but I had a lot of hours logged into 4&5 that helped with the learning curve. Chatting on here didn't hurt either. Though I'm playing on Deity, and I can usually beat it no problem save for the rare successful early AI rush, I have less playtime then many of you guys. I think I'm sitting at about 500 hours and I haven't even had a chance to play half the civs so having fun experiencing some new ones on Deity lately!

Definitely appreciate these fine tips from yung and others. Actually in hindsight recording is great for me because the experienced viewers can tell me more ways to improve that wouldn't be obvious otherwise, and I love that! I'm watching a bit of honor domination right now to make sure I actually know enough to pull off the Deity Assyria conquest. I would say 95% of my games are non-conquest so less experienced there. But the combo of Assyria with nearby Kilimanjaro should be interesting!

Every little thing that speeds up my gameplay would be nice as I see the other youtubers I've found that record are quite a bit faster at making decisions and playing then me. I'll probably just need more experience to make these snap decisions and talk as I do them.

These 4-way battles on hotseat are pretty fun for me since they give me 4x the chances to experience new civs and see the relative differences things like terrain and social policy trees make. I definitely think I'll continue the concept in future series. One thing that was instantly apparent was that the combo with the iroquois of settling on a hill, working a 2f1h tile, and republic was pretty strong and he got far ahead on build order as a result. His growth was a bit poorer but the fast hammers into granary just about made up for it. I knew this in theory but it's fun to see it all happen in parallel between the civs. I'm also testing the 3-pop early settler with netherlands vs. the 4-5 pop later settler strategy. Obviously this depends on hammers from terrain as well, but I've always wondered how much doing the 3-pop settler set you behind on science--I rarely do it usually aiming for 4 population. Another thing I noticed was I ALWAYS open with the pottery tech. Usually because I want the granary building to buff food tiles quickly but also because I want the option to build quick shrine for pantheon. What is your opinion on this move? Is there ever a case you'd not take this tech first and instead open with animal husbandry? The reason I don't is because I don't have the early hammers to invest in the caravan till around the time of tech 2 and don't usually run out of tiles to work till after so discovering horses at tech 2 matches growth rate pretty well.

I've created a new thread for my new series here if you want forum notifications. If you are already subscribed you'll see them on YT:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=569628

 

[danaphanous]

Part 4 of the 4-strategy Deity Showdown is out. Regretting checking raging barbarians on a large map lol it's messing up my early plans for build orders.

Part 4: Barbarian Convergence

 

[danaphanous]

The next part of Shoshone Empires is out! Ideological pressure is beginning to be an issue so I'm developing a game-plan to get more tourism and culture fast. I also Finish some hydro plants, xp farm the venetians, begin to build modern military, and discover plots by several neighbors against the glorious empire! This will not stand and we'll be watching them closely, victory to the Proletariat!

Part 24: Plotting Neighbors

by the way, it's so awesome that so many of you have continued to follow this series! It's been real fun for me as well, I guess the only part I don't like is that recording has me playing less civ5, but I've continued some on the side lol to get my "fixes". I have really enjoyed this so far, especially when I get the occasional encouraging comment or advice. Recording and posting the vids to civfanatics has really improved my gameplay as I get to see mistakes I made while editing as well as hearing from players that have more experience like Yung.Carl.Jung. I only have played around 600 hours of this game, so I guess I'm relatively inexperienced compared to some of you guys, there are still many civs and challenges I want to experience on Deity and I have a small list. If you guys want I can put them up as a poll at the end of Shoshone Empires so if you guys want to continue to follow my escapades you can tell me what you want to see! At this point I'm really trying to improve the commentary and efficiency of my gameplay and I think I'm slowly getting faster at playing on camera. I'm going to try an ambitious new upload schedule of 3 videos from each series every week. I'm so into these two games any less and I'd be missing it. Hopefully this makes it easier to look forward to and follow. I would love to see some comments on my videos hearing what you enjoyed and what you'd like to see more of or hear me talk about and if you want my opinion on certain aspects of gameplay I'll be happy to talk about such things on the side as I play. Just mention them!

My new planned upload schedule will be the following: 25-35 minute videos

Sunday: Shoshone Empires
Monday: 4-Strategy Deity Showdown
Tuesday: Shoshone Empires
Wednesday: 4-Strategy Deity Showdown
Thursday: Shoshone Empires
Friday: 4-Strategy Deity Showdown
Saturday: Day off

Obviously this is contingent on irl circumstances, last week in particular was too busy for this due to overtime from my job but that should be a rare occurrence. Please tell me what you think and continue to give me feedback and I'll do my best to make these episodes as entertaining as possible. And please tell me if I'm doing stuff inefficiently as I know I still have room to improve even though I'm a Deity player!

Best! And thanks for all the encouraging comments in this thread so far! After these two series I'll probably be letting this thread die down as I realized it's posted in the wrong forum. Future video threads will be in the appropriate stories and Let's Plays forum here and I just opened 2 new ones that I'll be regularly updating: http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=407

 

[danaphanous]

Part 5: Horse Surplus

Enjoy the next installment in the 4-Strategy Deity Showdown where empires start to expand and thrive!

The first settlers, the first resources, and the barbarian waves are fought back with some early recruits. Oh...and the Mayans luck continues unabated...poor saps.