So how is your current game going?

How did Shaka end up like this?
(oh and yeah I did austria things, wonder if I should even continue this)

Spoiler :

upload_2020-9-21_1-1-23.png

 
In short, it was going really good. Interesting map, neighbors and was doing well but was still challenged.

Unfortunately I had to scratch the game due to a bug which caused really low religious pressure from my religion, while my neighbors religion spread nicely among my cities

\skodkim
 
Religious pressure is very weak over water, were your cities separated by water? I believe terrain also plays a role, along with roads, and of course if another civ was India and/or took Orthodoxy or Fealty it would spread more too.

Or was it an unexplainable bug, because that bug sounds fairly problematic?
 
I think pressure is actually too strong over water in the latest version. It needs a nerf.

The bug is unrelated.
 
It's a known bug which is related to pressure over land. Basically my cities 8 tiles away from my holy city had no or very little pressure from my religion while they had a fair amount of pressure from my neighbors religion (also over land) even though he was farther away. In the end (just 30 turns or so I think) even my holy city lost my religion.

Apparently is been fixed (good job!) so I'm just hoping for a new release soon so I can get playing again. Really enjoying the game after a couple of years of civ 6.

\Skodkim
 
Playing Byzantium. Got a heavy forest start with lots of Truffles, along with a few other stray camp resources, so of course, I went with the Hunt Pantheon.

Decided to go Authority because of the two nearby natural wonders. Mt. Kilimanjaro and Fountain of Youth.

So far going very well. My capital has a steadily growing population because of the truffle monopoly and tons of production from authority and lots of forests. Basically have as many wonders as I would at this point with a Tradition capital.

Mt Kilimanjaro is incredibly powerful in the right situation. Ethopia had a lot of hills near their capital, so I ran roughshod over him easily. Particularly useful was a Byzantium event that gave me 4 Hunnic Horse Archers, who all started off with Accuracy 2, since I had a barracks. So I have them running all through the hills, virtually untouchable to his units. They also proved very useful for dealing with his capital, since he went Tradition, and a walled Tradition Capital + Archer hits like a truck. Thought I did screw up and got one of my two Great Generals killed.

Built my religion for war, basically.

Founder
Hero Worship
The faith from Ethiopia's cities and Byzantium being able to faith purchase Great Prophets in the Classic made for a very fast turnaround from founding to enhancing. Only Maya could do it faster.

Bonus Belief Founder
Theocratic Rule
3rd and 4th Uniques adds WLTKD stuff to Byzantium, and I already plan on going fealty.

Followers
Veneration
Going to be faith purchasing a lot, so refunding some gold and culture is useful. The basic yields per city are so-so.

Orders
Picked second, which I wouldn't ordinarily do if I wanted orders since the AI love it. Byzantium UA makes this not an issue.

Zealotry
Faith purchasing an army.

Then once I reform my religion, I will grab Crusader Spirit.

Already the tech leader from slaying Ethiopians and sacking their cities. Swimming in happiness without having done a order purchasing sweep through my cities, and most of the AI are telling me how afraid they are of me.
 
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You wouldn’t rather have gone synagogues than veneration, to combine with Theocratic Rule.
 
You wouldn’t rather have gone synagogues than veneration, to combine with Theocratic Rule.

I'm doing very well with science and rolling in production. But culture and gold are a bit more in demand.

Also, I'm not particularly interested in spreading my religion around, so extra-religious pressure isn't really needed. And it takes a while for faith buildings to refund their faith, which is time spent not buying units with Zealotry.

Actually one thing I forgot to mention. Zealotry is actually really good for gold purposes, since the AI love buying strategic. Not as inflated price wise as I've seen before, but still quite a bit in terms of income. And I've only secured my starting area and beaten one civ, and already secured the first stage of the Iron Monopoly.
 
Probably give up another one, feels pointless playing against a runaway AI like this, it will be all about if I manage to break Carthage or not.
Techlead fine, techlead and building all the wonders not fine, wasnt there nerfs supposed to prevent this?

Spoiler :

upload_2020-9-24_0-6-17.png


 
No nerf should ever prevent a civ from having one great game. We want variety between playthroughs, right?
 
Probably give up another one, feels pointless playing against a runaway AI like this, it will be all about if I manage to break Carthage or not.
Techlead fine, techlead and building all the wonders not fine, wasnt there nerfs supposed to prevent this?


Without seeing how your doing...I'm not sure if your that far behind or not
 
Without seeing how your doing...I'm not sure if your that far behind or not

Was catching up for a bit and stolen a few techs and no I'm not doing bad compared to the other AIs its fair vs them and would be an interesting game without Carthage.
But the game will be just about trying to tackle Carthage or not, 3 policys behind (was 1/2-1 for a decent time) about 8 techs behind, as you can see she grabs ALL wonders (edit: ok I think she missed 4).
I'm good on cities and sure I can try push with field guns and forward generals and see if I get anywhere, she's ofc have no trouble at keeping defensive pacts left and right.
I did a dow on one of them to clear out three nearby CS's and she was very passive all war, but way ahead in tech so I never stepped on her borders

If I won a war vs her I would have ALL the wonders and while several arent as good captured the game would be over.
I'm ok with runaways in one or two fields but I'm a bit sour over her being techleader 8-10 techs, policy leader 3+, drowning me (and others) with missionaries and religious pressure, builds ALL wonders ... takes the fun out of a game when there are 8 players but only one opponent.
 
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I've been trying to make Tradition work for me on Emperor, and finally seem to have a game where it's happening. As Korea, I started out only a few tiles from Ethiopia. I missed Pyramids by 3 turns (on turn 26! despite no America in the game), but still managed to settle between our capitals by stealing his worker and harassing his units in the area. Ethiopia never really recovered. He took a long time to found cities after the war, and didn't even found a religion even with his UB and Stonehenge! Then he founded a bunch at once and I spread my religion to them. I missed Petra too, but I got 5 more cities of my own and started rolling with Apostolic Tradition + Mastery + Mosques + Sacred Calendar. Sacred Calendar is actually pretty good if you can spread to a decent number of foreign cities. I got Jesuit Education in time to build Seowons, which was a huge boost. Now I have most of the golden age wonders and have nearly permanent GAs since some turn in the early 200s. Not too shabby. Finally vassalized Ethiopia. It turns out field guns with logistics do quite a number on crossbowmen and cannons.

This still won't be easy. Portugal is running away on the other continent and a real threat to my tech lead. England borders me on the north and hates me. Our wars have been draws because of extremely weird terrain. There's lots of coast and mountains between us, so that I can stop her invasions fairly well, but she could destroy mine even better, since I have no navy. Between vassals and rough terrain, I feel safe enough to turtle and will probably just focus on keeping my tech ahead of Portugal for awhile. Anyway, this is a big improvement for me so far!
 
Was catching up for a bit and stolen a few techs and no I'm not doing bad compared to the other AIs its fair vs them and would be an interesting game without Carthage.
But the game will be just about trying to tackle Carthage or not, 3 policys behind (was 1/2-1 for a decent time) about 8 techs behind, as you can see she grabs ALL wonders (edit: ok I think she missed 4).

At this point in the game (at least for me on Immortal), I would still consider that lead surmountable (aka winnable). This is doubly true if any tech buying is allowed in the game.
 
At this point in the game (at least for me on Immortal), I would still consider that lead surmountable (aka winnable). This is doubly true if any tech buying is allowed in the game.

Its not just if its winnable or not, its that all other AI engagements will be irrelevant compared to Carthage.
 
I had a super dumb game as Authority Carthage on Emperor Epic speed standard size Archipelago no Ruins no Events.
Got an okay start for God of the sea with pearls but i had to settle very aggressively in the early game to get the monopoly (settled a total of 10 cities and could have easily settled more if i wanted; a lot of really good settling spots were open.
Bought 3 Quinqueremes and started some tributing chains feeding me a lot of culture pushing me further ahead in the early game.
Grabber Statue of Zeus early on and got back to the top of the tech tree to try my luck at great lighthouse but it was snatched by Tradition Pocatello my immediate neighbor so operation colonize America had to begin earlier than i would have wanted, switched all of my cities to Naval ranged ship production powered by Barracks and Orders to get bombardment II .... Taking his satellites were no big deal but his tradition capital on hill was really really tough as i had no land forces and my ships were taking critical damage from it's ranged attacks that i had to cycle them every single turn to reduce my losses to the minimum.
After a prolonged siege i got the capital with the prized Great lighthouse eliminating the immediate neighbor and an annoying one really early with his religion as well.
Focused on spreading my religion to get reformation ASAP, powered by COE i managed to rush a couple of wonders and some heavy tributes from merchantile CSs i got Terracotta army, Parthenon to complement my Faith of the masses to get some buffed amphitheatres, Oracle, the colossus and Haghia Sophia back to back.
Tradition Germany was just to the north of my starting location with the majority of their forces being land forces it was an easy task for my ships and they fell in no time before i even got a chance to force them into capitulation.
Brazil was next but i waited till i uograded my navy and it was an incredibly easy one sided fight ended in them losing all of their cities to my 40~ ships.
Denmark was next and they got the same treatment as Brazil in a couple of turns.
Portugal, Assyria and Indonesia were left but honestly i got bored ... It's turn 240~ Epic speed and i'm about to finish my 2nd policy tree and unlock renaissance ships as well while the 3 civs left are still in medieval with ancient ships and it's just a matter of moving my ships across the ocean to capture the last 3 capitals to win.
Took this screenshot before abandoning the match.
Spoiler I don't think there is any point in playing this match till the end. :
CivilizationV_DX11 2020-09-24 19-00-39-621.jpg
 
Update on Byzantium

Yeah, I've basically won the game, and it is only the late medieval era.

Byzantium with a warmonger religious build + Mt Kilimanjaro + Fountain of Youth + Cataphracts +Jinete are just utterly broken. My drill promotion line (and Statue of Zeus) just smash down walled cities. While my Shock ones, of which many have Charge, just murder enemy units on the field, even with a hefty warmonger penalty. I have my unit cap in units, and on the rare occasion one does die, I can have new ones in short order with Zealotry.

I never really played particularly cavalry heavy before, but this game I would say maybe half my army is mounted, with an about even number of heavy skirmishers, and Cataphracts. The movement advantage is ridiculous, and Cataphracts are better at knocking down cities than my longswords. My foot archers are mostly just garrison units, and then a few assorted melee units and siege line.

I think Authority at the moment, has too many lump sum science bonuses. Without particularly beelining science buildings, I have 8 techs ahead of the second player, and 10 techs ahead of some of the others. This came largely from taking cities and killing masses of units. While Authorities production bonuses allowed cities to build infrastructure as I was unlocking it. Made even better by Zealotry, so my cities didn't have to produce units past an initial wave pre religion. I think if I had taken synagogues instead of Veneration, I would be in the Renaissance while the rest would be in the Classic. Thought Veneration is quite useful for getting policies, gold for investments and synergises with authority since culture in particular cities can get them to expand their borders, adding production to speed through the initial buildings. A new city can have its initial Imperium boost, and then follow it up with purchasing Orders, Monasteries, and then a garrison archer unit.

Warmonger wide just feels so much easier than peaceful wide. My Progress games I would be struggling with happiness. But the global median is being pushed down by my warring, I grabbed a bunch of monopolies, I have my population cap in happiness from luxuries and I'm ahead in terms of infrastructure. And I have a bunch of wonders

One funny thing in this game is Carthage. Their capital started off in a small inland sea. They then built a single wonder ... The Great Lighthouse. And despite a number of coastal cities, they didn't send a single ship to harass my cities. Oh well, I'm getting some use of the Great Lighthouse, though my navy can barely keep up with the advancing pace of my land armies.

Byzantium might be better as a warmonger instead of the godball Tradition Great Person. The Authority-Zealotry comes online way earlier and requires beelining a smaller number of wonders. It would, of course, be much harder without the natural wonders I secured, but it would more slow the operational tempo, than actually prevent my conquests.


Also a side note

Is Alhambra, supposed to provide both Drill 1 and Jinete? It seems off for it to do that, and a bit overpowered.
 
Is Alhambra, supposed to provide both Drill 1 and Jinete? It seems off for it to do that, and a bit overpowered.
bug. Fixed in next version.
 
Started a Byzantium game Epic speed, standard size Communitu_79 2.0 terra start with strategic balance 8 Civs 16 CS no Events or Ruins that was supposed to be Emperor but i found out after i started it was Immortal so i said screw it i'll keep playing yet i was mentally prepared to a torturing experience given my record with Immortal AI running away beyond any hope for me catchup unless i go on full laser-eye murder everyone endless conquest.
I had an interesting yet a bit slow start with Truffles, lots of bison, deer and a lot of forest tiles, i would have definitely chosen Goddess of the Hunt if i was not playing Byzantium but given i'm guaranteed a religion i chose Goddess of Renewal for slightly less faith in the early game in exchange for a lot more science and the food was a non issue given my Truffles monopoly was online with the 3rd city.
Spoiler Initial starting location after scouting the general vicinity. :
CivilizationV_DX11 2020-09-26 16-41-05-975.jpg

Got Monument first then shrine to get Authority opener ASAP & bought a warrior to start barbarian hunting and clearing camps and there was no lack of them nearby so i got Tribute policy rather quickly.
Researched trade before going down the lower part of the tree to get access to the buffed markets from the Pantheon and to buy sometime to get more warriors before upgrading to pikes to go on a tribute spree which did payoff really well.
By the time i got Bronze working i had 4 warriors upgraded to spearbois and luckily i had two culture CS not so far away not the one in the screenshot above tributing them for culture got me on par in terms of policies count with the 4 tradition civs i met; the Inca just to the north of my initial starting location, Portugal to the east, The Maya to the north of Portugal and Germany to the east of Portugal.
I settled 4 cities (settled another one a bit later) + the capital and called it a day, My immediate neighbor the Inca had lot of rough terrain that early melee rush was not going to be doable so i slowed a little bit beelining Terracotta army to boost my unit cap in order to accomodate more siege weapons then got iron working and produced 6 catapults ready to tear the Incan capital ...... luckily enough i had an Ivory tile near my capital so i trained some elephants instead of horsemen to make the fight in rough terrain slightly better given mobility is already very limited.
started the siege on the Incan capital and it was very lengthy even for a tradition capital having to cycle my catapults that were forced to retreat by the capital's ridiculous ranged strike and the slingers/composites but it fell eventually (it was their holy city so i had to wait till i found myself) right after i managed to found a religion at t155 (pretty fast for that pantheon actually, Thanks faith CS for the 180 faith heavy tribute) with Hero Worship, Grand Ossuary (WLTED synergy with Hippodrome is dope) and Orders.
I managed to found the second religion after the Maya thanks to some tributes and the rest of the religions were founded by Portugal and Germany (the Inca lost theirs right after founding it)
I Enhanced a bit later with Synagogues and Zealotry then reformed with Faith of the masses
Signed a peace treaty beelining Chivalry to get to my power spike at Chivalry and once i got it i DOWed the Inca again taking the rest of their cities but one and forcing them to capitulate, built Alhambra and spammed Cataphracts DOWing the Netherlands who had the Capital and another city really close to Incan lands taking them in no time feeding me more faith.
The rest of the game was as follows .... i spam cataphracts .... spam even more cataphracts because they look cool smashing them into enemy cities for free real estate.
By the end of renaissance Era i had 2 Vassals, Eliminating Germany and portugal and a huge army on the Mayan borders waiting for the Cannons to get upgraded to Field guns to get the last threat out of the game.... Authority England and Authority Zulus were a bit isolated to the north and are generally non threats being s fa behind in techs, policies and army so might just leave them hanging there till the late game.
Spoiler Cataphracts ... i Love Cataphracts, plz gimme more supply so i can get more Cataphracts :
CivilizationV_DX11 2020-09-28 00-05-56-323.jpg
 
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Had a pangea game where ZERO AIs went authority.
It was by far my easiest game on this patch.
Im more and more concerned with authority scaling, a bit as human but even more so in the hands of the AI, something seems off but my samples arent that much so ...
 
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