[NFP] Super fun map, Emp with Joao

[Bleys]

I am actually still playing, Its one of the most fun games I have ever played, an expansionists dream. I am at turn 300, and I have 21 trade routes, each raking in over 40 gold, + another 5 in sci, cult, prod, faith, etc.

When I used to come here in the Civ IV days, people would often play the same starts, then give reports on their progress and strategy, it was very educational, seeing the choices others make, how they turned out compared to your path, etc. This is a "How many cities can YOU found, not conquer, found with your own settlers, kind of map, lol.

Here's the start, its Emperor level, Epic speed, Small Continents map, Secret Societies, Heroes and Corporations turned on, Legendary start, everything else default.

 

[Planktonic]

So I decided to use your map script for an experimental game with Portugal. Portugal feels so overpowered, even at Deity level, that I wanted to play a "Challenge" game with certain self-imposed restrictions. I decided to lean into the naval and gold aspects and played with the following rules:



Your cities may only produce water districts (functionally this means Harbors and Water Parks) and the buildings within them. You may not produce any terrestrial districts or buildings except two: City Center and Government Plaza (since the former is automatic and the latter has buildings that can't be purchased). All other terrestrial districts and buildings have to be purchased.

If you conquer a city with a terrestrial district, you may repair damaged districts and buildings but may not produce any more. Any further districts or buildings have to be purchased

You may not produce any terrestrial Wonders (in the game I ended up building only Colossus, Tower of Belem, Sydney Opera House and was working on Statue of Liberty- since these all occupy water tiles. Huey and Great Lighthouse would also have been fair game).

You may not produce any military units except naval units (naval melee, naval ranged, privateers etc). Any terrestrial military units must be purchased (or leveed, which is itself a temporary purchase of sorts).

You may not recruit any terrestrial Heroes (so the only Hero I could summon was Sinbad, which I did).

You *may* produce terrestrial civilian units (Settlers, Builders, Traders).

Everything else to develop your empire must be purchased with gold (or faith, but in this game almost exclusively gold).



Importantly, I don't like playing small maps and don't like playing Epic speed, so I did set the game up using a Standard sized map and Standard speed, but otherwise with all the same settings as your game and with the same map and game seeds (298828966, 298828967).

I decided to go for a Cultural Victory since you included the Monopolies and Corporations mode. Science would have been too drawn out; Domination on a water map like this would have been too simple I think. And I don't usually bother with Religious or Diplo victory much.

In the end it still felt astonishingly easy- even with these restrictions Portugal is just overpowering, although the restrictions did slow things down quite a bit. I got to CV at turn 247.

I am attaching a CivSave of the game at victory turn in case you're interested to compare. If you have a file of your game that you'd be willing to post I'd appreciate it- I'm curious to compare the map forms, city states, natural wonders, AI Civ locations etc to see how much was retained despite my switching the map size and game speed, and how much was altered.

Thanks for the inspiration and the game!

 

[Bleys]

Its crazy. Try Menelek with faith, a blast.

I havent tried bigger maps, but I think I might have a go. I prefer Epic speed because I have time and dont mind.