Saxo Grammaticus
Clerk
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2021
- Messages
- 921
Was curious about the Spartan Achievement, so I went ahead and took a crack at it. All it says is "Win a game with a single City."
First attempt, failed miserably. Played on a huge Pangaea with 10 players, empire. Mods included AOM's rich luxuries and abundant strategics, more religious tenets, and duplicate cultures. Harappans->Maya->Umayyads, focusing on emblematic districts that benefited from more territories attached to a single city.
Well, while I initially vassalized the neighboring Hittites for their resources, staked out 12 or so territories, and got the Pyramids, no problems, things really stalled by the medieval era. District costs were so high, I struggled to place hardly any Grand Mosques.
The rich density of luxuries meant stability was not an issue, but also paradoxically seemed to dampen trade, hence lower trade income (guess scarcity rears its ugly head again). By the time my vassal demanded their freedom, I was out-teched, and half the continent was held by three superpowers who were in the early modern and industrial eras. Needless to say, I did not anticipate coming back to win the fame game.
Second attempt went much better: large Pangaea with 10 players, nation. Same mods, but only abundant luxuries instead of rich. This time, I chose solely industrial cultures until Japan and prioritized military tech and routine conquest.
In the neolithic, I had pretty rough terrain (rivers, mountains, cliffs) and settled for a snowy mountaintop location. In the ancient era, for starting civics I chose Divine Mandate and Codified Laws. I have never taken Divine Mandate before, but the territory bonus made more sense and basically helped Egyptian shamanism to take over the entire region. Missed out on pyramids but instead went with Stonehenge. Due to the dominance of my early religion, this was an enormous boon for the majority of the game. It also prompted me to pursue a policy of vassals and rump states to preserve coreligionists.
In the classical era, I expanded into Orange and Purple's lands and fought off a retaliatory war from the forever Phoenicians to the south. From then on, I largely enjoyed peace, focused on alliances to bolster the science, and kept an army on the borders just in case anyone got any ideas. Unfortunately, with one city, the district costs scaled quite intensely, and stars became a pronounced issue. Part of the benefit of a military was in fact offloading the population.
Things got rough in the industrial era, when my long-time ally Black (why does Mu Guiying always have to do this?) vassalized three players, exterminated Brown, and then came after my allies one by one. After one ally fell, and Black made some solid gains in fame, I decided enough was enough and that I had to break up their hegemony. Gajnals vs. Winged Hussars and Impis makes for some intense battles, especially when they are the attackers. After the war, my ally dog-piled, and the vassals started rebelling. The game timed out with me in the lead.
Now, I'm not terribly proud of the achievement on nation, but it's a proof of concept. Challenges include keeping up with district costs, tech disparities, and snowballing rivals. I'm curious how others have approached this achievement and would be very interested to see someone's play-through on a huge map at higher difficulties!
First attempt, failed miserably. Played on a huge Pangaea with 10 players, empire. Mods included AOM's rich luxuries and abundant strategics, more religious tenets, and duplicate cultures. Harappans->Maya->Umayyads, focusing on emblematic districts that benefited from more territories attached to a single city.
Well, while I initially vassalized the neighboring Hittites for their resources, staked out 12 or so territories, and got the Pyramids, no problems, things really stalled by the medieval era. District costs were so high, I struggled to place hardly any Grand Mosques.
The rich density of luxuries meant stability was not an issue, but also paradoxically seemed to dampen trade, hence lower trade income (guess scarcity rears its ugly head again). By the time my vassal demanded their freedom, I was out-teched, and half the continent was held by three superpowers who were in the early modern and industrial eras. Needless to say, I did not anticipate coming back to win the fame game.
Second attempt went much better: large Pangaea with 10 players, nation. Same mods, but only abundant luxuries instead of rich. This time, I chose solely industrial cultures until Japan and prioritized military tech and routine conquest.
Spoiler Empire :
Spoiler City :
In the neolithic, I had pretty rough terrain (rivers, mountains, cliffs) and settled for a snowy mountaintop location. In the ancient era, for starting civics I chose Divine Mandate and Codified Laws. I have never taken Divine Mandate before, but the territory bonus made more sense and basically helped Egyptian shamanism to take over the entire region. Missed out on pyramids but instead went with Stonehenge. Due to the dominance of my early religion, this was an enormous boon for the majority of the game. It also prompted me to pursue a policy of vassals and rump states to preserve coreligionists.
In the classical era, I expanded into Orange and Purple's lands and fought off a retaliatory war from the forever Phoenicians to the south. From then on, I largely enjoyed peace, focused on alliances to bolster the science, and kept an army on the borders just in case anyone got any ideas. Unfortunately, with one city, the district costs scaled quite intensely, and stars became a pronounced issue. Part of the benefit of a military was in fact offloading the population.
Things got rough in the industrial era, when my long-time ally Black (why does Mu Guiying always have to do this?) vassalized three players, exterminated Brown, and then came after my allies one by one. After one ally fell, and Black made some solid gains in fame, I decided enough was enough and that I had to break up their hegemony. Gajnals vs. Winged Hussars and Impis makes for some intense battles, especially when they are the attackers. After the war, my ally dog-piled, and the vassals started rebelling. The game timed out with me in the lead.
Now, I'm not terribly proud of the achievement on nation, but it's a proof of concept. Challenges include keeping up with district costs, tech disparities, and snowballing rivals. I'm curious how others have approached this achievement and would be very interested to see someone's play-through on a huge map at higher difficulties!