T98 Science Victory with Cooked Settings

[Minou]

T38: Lots of action this turn.

On the eastern front, we have great news. A random barb Warrior suicides into one of our levied Warriors who absolutely crushes it thanks to Discipline+Oligarchy+Himoko+forest terrane giving it +18CP. This gives us the last kill for Bronze Working. Iron is revealed, and there are 2 third ring Irons in capital plus 1 in Brussels which they will hopefully hook up for us. It will take a little while to hook up our metal, but in the meantime Hatusa will cover us with a small supply

Himoko continues to inspire our levied Warriors, who take Washington killing off a fresh Spear. Renamed Tabopolis, this is a very nice city with a Monument, Granary, Amber Mine, and Farm plus 2 Horses, Coffee, Citrus and 6.5 chops within borders (plus 2.5 more in unowned second ring tiles). Plus, the city is at only -3.8 loyalty thanks to low grievances from America denouncing us and so doesn't even need a Governor to hold it at the moment.

Gaining the Amber mine completes Wheel and also gives us one of the mines we need for Apprenticeship. Our Builders in the core throw down two more mines, but apparently because the Amber mine is pillaged it doesn't count so the tech does not complete. I guess the turn we "wasted" by not being able to teleport Hercules did't matter after all in this case. That's odd, since it DID count for Wheel! It seems that whether pillaged improvements count towards boosts like Feudalism and Apprenticeship is totally random...

One of our injured levied Warrior makes a risky move and steps onto an empty camp, hoping not to be take out by the barb Warrior nearby between turns....

Down south, things are heating up. Our troops have Haddington redlines and we should not only be able to capture the city next turn, but use the Builder captured at the start of the war to mine the Iron east of the city for Apprenticeship and Iron Working!

Our Cotton is repaired and we can sell it to England for 66/4DF. However, that's not enough gold to buy the hill tile we want for the Oracle in the capital so Magnus stands idle yet another turn.


Techs: Bronze Working

 

[Minou]

T39: Another great turn, in which we score FIVE techs and a city!

First, our Archer and Spear kill last American unit near the capital to complete Military Tactics.Then, with the coast clear our Trader sets out to Vatican City, earning a quest envoy and completing Currency

Second, out in barbarian territory our frontier Warrior also survives untouched at camp. For some reason the barb Warriors just stand there gawking. Our unit clears the camp for the Military Tradition boost. It would have been nice to buy a Spear first since we can now upgrade them to Pikes, but we don't have enough cash.

Third is a city capture down south. Between turns, Scotland suicided a Warrior into our troops gaining us a promotion. The levied Warriors easily take Hadden, renamed Giselle River. The city has a pillaged mine (giving us 2 mines and 2 pillaged mines now), which for some reason counts for the Apprenticeship boost even though the pillaged Amber mine did not. So confusing.... The city is has a Monument and a Campus, plus an Iron that we can mine for Iron Working. However, it is all the way down at -19.8 Loyalty so will be very hard to hold.

All these techs completing push the value of Magnus chops up to 84h, and the first one is boosted to 96h with the Brussels bonus as we get to work on Oracle.

Hercules creates his second district, an Industrial Zone in the capital. With the free Workshop, +1h from Iron adjacency and +2h towards Wonders from our envoys at Buenos Ares and Brussels, this will really help with the Oracle pus as well. The IZ is our third district, so Mathematics is now complete as well and we can shift to putting our normal science into Engineering, adding a nice 74s pillage in America by our stealthy SK to get it started in earnest.


Techs: Military Tactics, Currency, Iron Working, Apprenticeship, Mathematics

Inspirations: Military Tradition

 

[Minou]

T40: It's been a while since we completed a Civic. With MT in this turn, we can slot in Maritime Industries for a second Galley and Shipbuilding, Liminati to hopefully hold that Scottish city, Revelation to help in the GP race and Survey since we want to buy a couple tiles.

The first tile purchase is a forest to chop for 59h and complete the Palgum in Fort Oscar. This completes Construction the boost for Games and Recreation, a Civic that is almost impossible to boost for Civs other than Babylon. Just in time too, as we are running out of Civics to put culture into without "wasting" effort by going past 60% without the inspiration.

Our trusty Galley meets another CS and in fact one of the best in the game: Nan Mandol (quest is Military Engineering). We will want to gain control of them soon, and luckily no AI has more than 1 envoy there yet. If we can get the Government Plaza up and complete Military Training, we can use DL to secure them.

One of the things you can do in Civ 6 because of the clumsy AI is declare war/peace every 20 turn cycle to allow more luxury sales, since an AI will almost always trade for a few turns after peace even if you have massive grievance. There's usually no real penalty to do this for AIs that are far away because they won't make any concerted effort to attack - at worst they might pillage a Trader or improvement. This turn we can declare on Kroea to get our Wine back for happiness and make peace with Spain who will then buy Honey for 168g.

Magnus makes 1 turn stop at Port Oscar to get it above 50 Loyalty and increase yields while a Builder heads out to repair another pillaged Cotton.

The Storm Cloud Clan spawns west of Hatusa. The are selling Barbarian Horseman, which are nice because they only cost 95g and despite being weaker than standard Horsemen can be upgraded into Cavalry. This clan has CS progress disabled - not quite sure what causes clans to sometimes trip into this state?

Here's the plans on all three fronts:

England: With Hercules around and Himoko able to teleport over, we can go all-in to take London and score some Builders along the way.

America: The front is stalled for now, but once Hercules is done with fighting in England we can teleport him over to lead the attack on Philadelphia and use our Spear and Archer (marching in from the capital region) along with the SK to take Boston.

Scotalnd: Giselle River looks like a lost cause in terms of Loyalty. The best play may be to chop out two Horsemen here and abandon the city, using the levied Warriors and Horsemen to take the capital which is large enough in pop to stay loyal with a governor.

Techs: Construction

Inspirations: Games and Recreation

Civics: Military Tradition

A review of the empire at T40:
We have 6 cities with 3 districts which is excellent.
2.2spt /19.7 cpt / 5.4fpt / 26.5gpt - culture and gold obviously juiced by the wonder, and the low science doesn't really matter at all as Babylon.
Army is tremendous: Himoko+Hercules, 1 Eagle Warrior (nice), 1 Archer, 1 Spear, 1 SK, 2 Warriors, 13 Levied Warriors, plus we have 4 horses and 2 iron per turn for HM and later Man at Arms upgrades.
14 envoys and 3 CS vassals
We also critically have the Voidsingers invite, though we haven't joined yet.

 

[Minou]

T41:Games and Recreation is in, so we can swap back into Urban Planning and slot Maneuver for the first round of Horsemen.

After repairing the capital Cotton a second time, we can create our first Industry - a Cotton Industry in Fort Oscar for nice 4f/3h/4g tile. This is mostly for the tile yields and to start accumulating GM points, since we probably won't use the 30% bonus for military units much in this city. The cit y also gets another mine this turn Despite its start as a very boring empty city, Fort Oscar is looking great with a powerhouse 16 production (the screenshot shows only 7.5 because of the 50% Loyalty and because it was taken before I swapped back to Urban Planning). Besides unlocking the Industry, repairing Cotton let's us make a nice 73g/9gpt/OB sale to Spain.

We could have built the Industry in the capital, but it's better to go for a Honey Industry there since the capital can really use the growth and housing bonuses, and we wouldn't want to move off a wonder tile to work the Industry tile anyway.

The cool down in England is over so we can declare war again. This time our Warriors are backed by Himoko, Hercules, and an Eagle Warrior, who on the first turn converts an English Warrior into a Builder. Excellent start! Hercules moves forward, but before attacking he takes a brief pause to throw down an Encampment (with free Barracks) to get GG points flowing (and help Port Oscar out with a little extra production and housing as a side benefit). Once we gain control of Nan Mandol, the Encampment will also provide +2c. I think we can overpower England with brute force, especially if we can get a second Galley out and hit from the sea as well. The difficult part is that the Warrior on the left flank is going to be vulnerable to attack from multiple sides and have a tough job clearing the RF hill, making a siege very hard to pull off. Hopefully Hercules and Eagle Warrior hitting hard with +9CP from Oligarchy+Himoko will let power through regardless.

Pushing further west, our Galley meets Sumeria. At this stage in the game, the number that really matters is culture, since all our techs are coming from boosts. So, I will start tracking it as we push for 50cpt by T50.

Culture: 20.6cpt

Inspirations: Military Training

Civics: Games and Recreation

 

[Minou]

T42: Galley meets Tiger Claw Clan, which is selling Warriors for 95g. The great thing is that the closest city is Giselle River! Speed is often the limiting factor in conquest in Civ 6, so teleporting Heroes and well-position Barbarian Clans can really shine.

In much worse Barbarian Clan news, the Rock Buzzard clan got cleared out in the fog this turn. That means no second Eagle Warrior for us sadly.

Progress is slow in England. Hercules and the Eagle Warrior team up to take out a Warrior, but no free Builder this time. Somehow they have 255CP. All that is visible is 5 Warriors for slightly under 100CP (due to some being injured) and 2 Galleys. They haven't levied any CS, so they probably have bunch of Galleys in the fog.

Between turns, Scotland really exposes itself by suiciding two Warriors! Given the much easier terrane and weaker defenses (Scotland is now only at 70CP!), Himoko teleports south. We can chop our first Horseman in Giselle River which can reach and strike Stirling for 48 damage instantly. Some Warriors are coming up behind, but it is doubtful we can take Stirling before Giselle River revolts.

Culture: 21.2cpt (slight increase as we reduce loyalty penalties in captured cities).

 

[Minou]

T43: Magnus is back in the capital and chops a forest for 104h thanks to Brussels Brussels. His work done, Magnus departs for Tabopolis to help with Government Plaza + Warlord's Throne. Barring disaster, the Oracle will be ours in 2 turns.

Our intrepid Galley contacts Brazil.

On the western front, England suicides a Warrior, reducing their army to 183CP. We can kill another one but end up losing one of our own too.

On the southern front, our Himoko boosted Horseman rolls terribly and whiffs for only 38 damage to Stirling, about the lowest possible damage. A levied Warrior follows up with a much better roll for 32. We won't be able to take the city in time to prevent Giselle River from revolting, so Liang departs for Port Oscar.

Culture: 20.8cpt (sadly moved in the wrong direction this turn due to increasing loyalty penalty in some cities).

 

[Minou]

T44: Meet Akkad (Guilds)


On the western front there is no combat this turn - we can't close in on the Vampire-defended capital until Hercules and Himoko return. But, the Builder our Eagle Warrior captured can set sail and hook up Pearl, allowing us to sell Brazil our Wine for 89g/6gpt (we have a second that can eventually be hooked up in Port Minou).

On the southern front we just barely miss taking Stirling - suiciding one levied Warrior deals 30 damage but the Horseman whiffs again dealing 45 damage. A second Warrior makes a long shot attack but the city stands with 6HP left. It may seem like a minor setback, but this leaves a redlined Horseman in range of a Slinger - he should survive fine but if the city pops a Spear or Archer it could be a disaster.

There's a bit of action on the eastern front for the first time in a while, as our SK attempts to kill off an American Chariot but just barely misses. As a consolation prize, one of our Warriors can pillage a Trader for 60g. You can see the +2c rainforest in America - when I first spotted this tile with fog behind it I though we may have stumbled upon Giant's Causeway but I forgot about Teddy's +2c/+2s from high appeal tile ability. Like the push for London, the advance on Philadelphia is stalled out at the moment but a few chopped Horseman should fix that soon.

Culture: Still stuck at 20.8. We are certainly falling short of the 50cpt by T50 plan.

 

[shapecharge]

Just want you to know I am really enjoying this thread thanks Minou

 

[lakeiron]

Great thread! Learning a lot from you! Thanks!

 

[Minou]

T45: Another action-packed turn. The Classical Era begins, and the obvious choice for our first Golden Age is Monumentality. Of the AIs, only Spain and Sumeria hit a Golden Age, which is great because it means our captured city in England, America, and Scotland will be much easier to keep loyal. We get four new CS quests as the era shifted, two being build a Theater Square, one a Trebuchet, and one a Courser.

Military Training is complete, normally this would mean its time to slot Raid, but somehow there is not a single tile to pillage for the next few turns anywhere despite our armies fighting on three fronts. We can substitute Equestrian Orders to ramp up Horse and Iron accumulation. The other three slots go to Maneuver, Urban Planning, and Diplomatic League, the last of which lets us use the free envoy from Military Training to send a double envoy to Nan Mandol.

Minor City finishes the Oracle - I had set a rough deadline of T50 to avoid being scooped, and thanks to Babylon blowing through the tech tree chops quickly escalated in value. Since we already put a little culture into Drama and Poetry it completes with the boost. The capital next starts an IZL project, since we are fortunate enough to have Imotep as the first GE up.

Time for a final push out west. Our second Galley pops in Port Oscar, completing SB and providing a key extra attacker to take London. England redlines our precious Eagle Warrior with their Vampire. However, after selling the Pearl for 107/20DF we have enough gold to upgrade our Original Warrior into a Man at Arms!

Down South, Scotland kills a Warrior between turns. No matter, our Horseman breaks through and captures Stirling (renamed Ginkeropolis), which is the nicest city we have conquered so far - it has a Moment, Granary, Palgum, Campus with Libary, an Iron Mine and 4 chops in its current borders. Ginkeropolis places an IZ to lock in costs and then gets to work repairing the Monument.

Out east, Tabopolis chops out a Horseman and Hercules teleports in to make a real push for Philadelphia. America's strongest defenders are a pair of Chariots, which really let's our SK shine as a part of the siege once instead of a mere Scout. For now, the new HM runs over a Slinger while the SK pillages a farm to heal up.

Sumeria denounces us, so we can simply declare on them and re-set relations in 10 turns. This has the side bonus of revealing Anshan in the interior of the other continent.


Inspirations: Drama and Poetry

Techs: Shipbuilding

Civics: Military Training, Drama and Poetry

Culture: 24.3 (Some positive gains from city capture, gotta get those cities with Monuments to full Loyalty)

 

[Minou]

T46: Galley meets Portugal, and we can sell them Cotton for 79/3/20DF. We really have done very well with trade this game, as opposed to unlucky games where all the AIs are broke.

The only major action this turn is on the eastern front, where our SK takes out a Chariot as Hercules and the Horseman close in on Philadelphia with Himoko rushing to catch up from behind. One Warrior also sets sail to go explore the eastern ocean for islands with huts, clans and city states.

Culture: 24.7 (a mere 0.4 gain), but with loyalty rising thanks to Golden Age and a Monument to be repaired next turn we are moving in the right direction.

 

[Minou]

T47: A Builder fleeing the ruins of Scotland meets Granada (Civil Service quest). This is a really strong city state since it's ability basically lets Builders put up Monuments for one charge apiece (though the tile must be actually worked to get the 2c) with the added bonus of some science on high-appeal tiles.

In America, the seafaring Warrior stops outside Philadelphia for a turn to siege the city, while Hercules and the Horsemen hit for 28 and 36, pretty weak considering Himoko is on the scene. Arriving at last, our Spear hits Boston for 33 followed up by a 22 damage attack from a Warrior. However, without a siege it will be tough to take the city. The American Settler is still roaming around to the south too

In England, our new Man at Arms whiffs on his attempt to one-shot a Warrior but a levied Warrior can finish the job. This lows us down though as we wanted to Man at Arms to advance a tile. Our Eagle Warrior “kills” the redlined Vampire which counts a s a kill in generating 8XP but does not yield a Builder (not sure if this was just a bad roll or disallowed since Vampires don't actually die).

In Scotland, we gain 60g from pillage. Giselle River has fallen into revolt, and a rebel Man at Arms actually helps us out by walloping a Scottish Chariot.

Domestically, we reaper the Amber mine and sell it off for 32g/3gpt/20DF to Spain. Harvestins a Marsh gets Port Oscar to 3 pop (and 4 pop next turn with overflow) setting us up to start our first Harbor.

Culture: 25.7

 

[Minou]

T48: Between turns, Boston pops a Chariot and kills off our Warrior breaking the siege. No matter, as we have more than enough units to power through.

Out big domestic leap comes as Magnus arrives in Tabopolis so we can chop out the Government Plaza and part of Warlord's Throne. Clearing some rainforest also gets the city to 4 pop so we can place an IZ. The free GT let's us finally join Voidsingers which gives us a nice 24fpt boost. We also score a free envoy (another nice Babylon ability) which let's us can control of Nan Mandol. We have 3 coastal districts so far for +6cpt, but more will be on the way soon. For the first time in a while we also reveal a Hero - Oya, who is of little interest.

Shared Vision reveals that Sumeria owns the former capital city Mbanza Kongo. This explains the "Player has been defeated" message early in the game. Looks like Kongo got rushed by War Chariots in the Ancient Era! The great part about Sumeria is they usually spam Ziggurats. Most AIs wasted their free Builders on useless farms since they don't yet have the ability to build mines, pastures, etc. That sucks for pillaging. But since Sumeria can build Ziggurats on T1, they usually offer a juicy opportunity for pillaging gold. Civs that spawn in tundra are also good in this regard - since they can' farm the icy land they often wait until mines are unlocked and build those instead (see Scotland this game). But sadly this game, Sumeria seems to have lost its Builders somehow - all that is present in their three visible cities is one farm and one Ziggurat.

We also meet Indonesia this turn - they are located out east of Scotland and at war with them, which explains why Scotland seemed so weak. They probably lost a bunch of units fighting to the east before we swung in from the west.

Our second Galley finds the first "ice hut" - I am planning on leaving all of the isolated huts alone until near the end of the game, when we can pop them all rapidly and hope to score free boosts of otherwise unboostable Future Era techs.

Culture: 31.5cpt (speeding up nicely with Nan Mandol!)

Port Oscar enjoys the power of Nan Mandol!

Shared vision with Nan Mandol shows a disappointing scene.

 

[ifinnem]

Fascinating thread!

 

[Minou]

T49: Hercules leads the way as our western army takes Philadelphia (now Tab University), a beautiful city with another OGO plus a +4 Campus with Library nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. Boston is too tough to take in the next few turns, so we will actually pay America for a cease fire to give out Builders time to improve the Citrus and Horses and chop in a Harbor plus more Horsemen to form a pillaging force. Himoko is now free to teleport to Scotland.

Meanwhile in the south a Horseman smashes Dundee for 42 damage.

Out west, an exploring Builder contacts Buenos Aires (GS quest) who spawned next to the Giant's Causeway. This presents an opportunity - if we gain control of the CS we can levy a force of wonder-boosted Warriors.

We also meet Poland this turn. By declaring war on Portugal, we can retrieve our Cotton and sell it to Poland for 105g. This helpfully reveals Portugal's vassal Nalanda. Nalanda is one of the most important City States in the game, as we can save their free technology until the end game, potentially saving multiple turns if we hit a tech needed for the space race.

On the domestic front, our first Batay (+3c) is up in Port Minou. With none of our original Caguana levy Warriors needed for fighting anymore, Amani heads there right away. Magnus boosts a rainforest chop into Warlord's Throne to get Tabopolis to 4 pop so it can place an IZ, and then chops 96h into that district - we don't actually want to complete WT until we swap back into Classical Republic, as the CR legacy policy will help us reach empire-wise happiness.



Inspirations: Recorded History

 

[Minou]

T50: We've hit the halfway point and things are looking pretty good. Defensive Tactics completes this turn allowing us to hire Pingula who will contribute significantly to the culture push.

We can also swap into Classical Republic and will run UP / Land Surveyors / DL / Revelation since we need to buy a few chops tiles.

The biggest event this turns though is that we meet Johannesberg (TS quest), just about my favorite CS in the game! Johannesberg is arguably the most powerful CS in Babylon games, as it is possible to hit Industrialization, doubling their bonus, quite rapidly, If we can gain control will provide a really nice push to getting our infrastructure up to speed.

Militarily, not much is happening other than Himoko teleporting back to England.

One thing we are watching closely is the race for Great Prophets. Three have been taken and we are at 38/60 for one of the last two. We are producing 4 GP points from our HS+Shrine and the Revelation card which will snag us one in 6 turns, and the 15% bonus fro Classical Republic will shave this to 5 turns. Sumeria and Poland are the closest competitors, both below 20/60 and churning out 4 per turn so safely behind - unless they spend faith/gold to scoop us.

T50 Stats:

Although it feels like we have been conquering quickly, we actually only have 7 cities somehow. However, Giselle River will flip back by Loyalty soon and our new mounted troops are positioned to capture more cities rapidly.

We have 6 total districts (thanks Hercules!) and 3.6pst / 37.4 cpt / 25.1fpt / 10gpt. The culture rate isn't quite at the 50cpt goal but still insane, and our faith production is likewise strong thanks to Voidsingers and growing as we repair or build an OGO in each city we gain.

We also have a crazy number of envoys -15 total with 3 vassals with Amani soon to secure another.

Civics: Defensive Tactics (no boost)


T51: Our northern Galley is forced to retreat by barb ships, which will slow down contact with the other continent. In other nautical news, we need to shell out 116g for a Crab tile to complete Celestial Navigation.

Tab University chops a rainforest to complete another OGO and hits 4 pop to place a Harbor.

Our Man at Arms moves up and smashes London for 46 but we are having difficulty getting all our troops up to the battle lines due to the terrain. Down in Scotland a Horseman pillages 81s from a Campus and Hercules teleports down to help with the push east,

Techs: Celestial Navigation

Culture: 39.4cpt

 

[Minou]

T52: Engineering completes, out fourth "hard" tech (as opposed to free techs from boosts). This let's us lay down an Aqueduct in the capital. Tabopolis also chops the Warlord's Throne, which will give us an empire-wide 20% boost production boost for the rest of the game and provide a GT to promote Pingula as well.

We finally hit 100 influence points, and send the envoy to Buenos Aires, which reveals Anansi.

Yet again, our English offensive stalls out as our Man at Arms is worn down to 12HP by a swarm of Warriors. Annoyingly, one of the redlined English Warriors suicides into the MAA, depriving our Eagle Warrior of a chance for a Builder-generating kill. I have to say one of the worst features of Civ 6 is that you can't gain more XP until after a promotion - our Man at Arms gained one with the first defense and then defended twice more, killing the second Warrior, but only nets a grand total of 1XP.

Things are going better in Scotland, where Khmer units are marching in from the east allowing us to get a siege on Dundee without actually surrounding it ourselves.

Techs: Engineering (no boost)

Culture: 41.5cpt

 

[Minou]

T53: Recorded History is in and Pingula is now promoted with Connoisseur + Grants. He just hasn't arrived just yet. Now that the Classical Republic legacy card is locked in, we can swap governments again into Autocracy and run Maneuver / UP / DL / Revelation. We need the extra red policy slow, plus the +1s/1c/1g/1f in the capital and Tabopolis is nice and the +10% for wonders will help with chopping Kilwa. But, oops - I forgot to buy all the forest tiles we need for Kilwa before swapping out of Land Surveyors.

The big focus right now is shifting to Great Engineers. We want Imotep ASAP because he is amazing, but looking forward we want to churn GE points like there is no tomorrow because we need to clear all 4 Classical GE to have a shot at Leonardo Da Vinci. If we luck into him, he can get us Radio and Chemistry!

Our first Industrial Zone Logistics project complete this turn but it is only worth 28GE points. We will need 480 for the Classical GE plus another 610 for the first Medieval one due to the ridiculous cost scaling for Great People recruited ahead of their era, which is even worse for Great Engineers than other GP types since the first GE, for some stupid reason, are considered Classical instead of Ancient. This whole mess makes me so angry because it means most of the cool late game GP might as well not exist.

On the military front, we need to retreat again in England. Hercules and a Horsemen smash Dundee, which we should be able to take next turn. And we pillage 85f in Spain to get a Builder. We really have had slim pickings on pillaging so far, with most of the AIs farming like there is no tomorrow but building few mines or pastures.

Civics: Recorded History

 

[ATEX]

Well done @Minou. I was wondering if you still worked on this. I will read up as soon as I have time. Im not playing anymore, but will probably still follow the forum if someone does something fun like this. =)

 

[Minou]

Thanks ATEX, I had done the opposite, playing but not checking the forum for half a year. Glad you are still reading.