Tell us the story of your current game

[MutilationWave]

Yeah the reefs were plentiful, so were crabs for tons of extra growth. God of the Sea is also a big winner. I had the capital fully expanded and all buildings built as quarters while working all but four of the remaining tiles. The worked tiles on land were all tropical forest, boosted by Mundo Perdido. My production buildings were all +3 adjacency from wonders.

This is why I push food so hard. I make sure the first IP I befriend is expansionist and take +4 food on food buildings. Then I prioritize food and warehouse buildings, taking any bonuses I can that apply to food buildings or warehouses. If a settlement isn't going to work a single rough tile, it still gets the related warehouse because all those yields for 220 gold is a great deal.

I did scout the entire map, and befriended almost all the IPs. Building your monuments on coast for the extra 1 influence doesn't seem like much, but it adds up because you build monuments so early. I had an overabundance of military IPs, so I chopped three of those to help get wonders up. I barely had to trade due to Tonga getting free trade routes from befriended IPs. That's how I got crabs

The biggest difference here I think was only having one neighbor on my large island, and boxing her in so early. She languished with one city forever and I had it surrounded by slingers, then archers, fortified just out of range of her walled tiles, destroying everything that wandered out and getting commander experience in the process. I had her on farm essentially, using relatively few units due to archipelago map.

I learned I need to be more careful with my wars with such a soft civ like Tonga. I say soft because their gold output sucks. I can't just buy a bunch of units to get me out of trouble (or into it).

 

[Berrern]

Yeah the reefs were plentiful, so were crabs for tons of extra growth. God of the Sea is also a big winner. I had the capital fully expanded and all buildings built as quarters while working all but four of the remaining tiles. The worked tiles on land were all tropical forest, boosted by Mundo Perdido. My production buildings were all +3 adjacency from wonders.

This is why I push food so hard. I make sure the first IP I befriend is expansionist and take +4 food on food buildings. Then I prioritize food and warehouse buildings, taking any bonuses I can that apply to food buildings or warehouses. If a settlement isn't going to work a single rough tile, it still gets the related warehouse because all those yields for 220 gold is a great deal.

I did scout the entire map, and befriended almost all the IPs. Building your monuments on coast for the extra 1 influence doesn't seem like much, but it adds up because you build monuments so early. I had an overabundance of military IPs, so I chopped three of those to help get wonders up. I barely had to trade due to Tonga getting free trade routes from befriended IPs. That's how I got crabs

The biggest difference here I think was only having one neighbor on my large island, and boxing her in so early. She languished with one city forever and I had it surrounded by slingers, then archers, fortified just out of range of her walled tiles, destroying everything that wandered out and getting commander experience in the process. I had her on farm essentially, using relatively few units due to archipelago map.

I learned I need to be more careful with my wars with such a soft civ like Tonga. I say soft because their gold output sucks. I can't just buy a bunch of units to get me out of trouble (or into it).

That's actually a great tip about the IPs and warehouse bonuses. Sometimes I won't build a Granary in a Town because it only offers 1 Food. But with that bonus it'll offer 5!

Yeah, being careful with wars is something I've learned recently as well. Especially when playing on higher difficulties than Deity, I find myself using a lot of fortified infantry and ranged units behind them offering support. And even going for the Bulwark promotion on one of my Commanders early on! Before I went above Deity, I don't think I ever used temporary fortifications, and I certainly never prioritised Bulwark - but now it's nearly compulsory in order to survive!

Edit: And those Tongan trade routes are incredible! So many free resources

 

[MutilationWave]

Teach - Pirates! Exploration

I took Scythian Battle Axe for extra gold because I anticipated a lot of fighting and Brace of Pistols for +2 CS on Naval Units.

I had seven ships from antiquity. I got right on getting traders online, then two Buccaneers (Naval Commander). Went Astronomy then Cartography. I resumed by war with Isabella and had her at one settlement. She kept producing settlers, which I kept taking. She gave me so many I set them up all over the map in potential settlement locations, and went ahead and settled two towns on treasure resources in Distant Lands and one in Homelands to fill a gap left by an IP that disappeared. Eventually the torturing of Izzy got real as Napoleon allied her and sent an army at my nearly undefended westernmost town. He took it easily, but I had it back in four turns once I brought my navy to bear. Napoleon was mostly easy to handle because he kept producing land units and putting them in the water. It was just fodder for my ships. Occasionally he would attack with 2-4 ships, which became part of my navy.

What you have to watch out for early in the age are catapults. They absolutely wreck cogs. Isabella and Napoleon built a ton of them. My navy was unbeatable, but it was taking half my income in maintenance. Eventually I saw one of Ashoka's Kalams swing by. I grabbed it. Two attacks!? These make a great addition to the navy. Eventually I would make a full assault on his territory in an undeclared war to capture as many Kalams as possible. Nearly caused him to go to war. I tried the same thing with Cetbangs from Lakshmibai. I was creeping through her territory, hoping to spot one. I engaged when I saw two together and this happened -

So I only ended up with one Cetbang. They don't have two attacks, but their pillaging abilities would have been welcome since Pirates get 120-150 gold for every coastal raid. I finally began razing Napoleon's capital, and set to setting fire to the rest of his cities. I lost an army commander and many Coursers in these fights. Much better to fight from the sea. I got Gunpowder the same turn I took his capital, and I'd been saving for it. All my ships were upgraded in short order and were no longer so vulnerable to land ranged units. I read that there is a secret quest to control a Cetbang, Kalam, and the other exploration unique ship that gives three attribute points. Unfortunately I didn't have the civ with the third in this game. One thing I found out much later than I'd like is a hidden event to give the agile ability to all naval units (+1 movement). You have to capture a treasure convoy, have it recaptured, then re-recapture it. Also of note is the last pirate civic (not its mastery) gives an attribute point. I didn't find this out until the end of the age because it has such an unappealing bonus.

IP's this time were rough. Only one expansionist, one influence, two culture, two economic, and the rest were military. I was able to chop some military ones to fuel more wonders, although out of the really good ones I only got Notre Dame. I had too many cities razing, taking 20 turns in some cases, and I let my happiness falter so I wasn't getting celebrations to keep my culture up. This was my biggest mistake of the age. Still, I started up my first Future Tech on turn 74 at 74% age completion. In just seven turns, on 81, I was at 95% and the ten turn countdown. I got two future techs and one future civic. Plague made my yields look worse than they should have been. What a worthless crisis. At the end of the age my navy was 10 Kalams, 24 Galleons, and One Lonely Cetbang. Here's the details.

Pirates are a fun and different way to play. Turns can take forever though because everyone is your enemy, even not at war. I did not use any of the Buccaneer abilities. They seem pointless. Even their free promotion with bonus to pillaging doesn't seem to work. Would love to see named Great Pirates instead as someone suggested recently. Archipelago map definitely helped here. I wouldn't want to play them on Pangaea. But I don't want to play that map at all anyway. Posting a new shared game soon if anyone is interested!

 

[Berrern]

That's some Exploration age you just played!

Those final yields - very well done, especially that much GPT with such a big navy
And what a navy you ended up with!

You were in a good position with Isabella, managing to take so many of her settlers. When I played this age, I couldn't find any settlers to conquer until much later in the age, so I had to rely on my Buccaneers to settle towns.
In addition, I used the Buccaneer raiding party numerous times to snatch Treasure Fleets - it's a really powerful option, although I'm not sold on the laser beam that appears from the sky when you use it

So cool how you got to capture enemy ships with special abilities, that must've been a lot of fun!

Totally agree with you that Pirates are really fun, and so so different. And indeed very time-consuming!!
I never posted my write-up of Exploration (or Modern) as I was suddenly playing alone , but I'll see if I can dig up my notes and post my experience.

Looking forward to the next game

 

[Berrern]

Edward Teach - Pirates - Exploration

I chose not to change Mementos, meaning I started with only Imago Mundi, which was essentially useless as I'd already scouted the whole map.
As I only learned that Edward can capture enemy ships way too late in the previous Age, I decided to go for it this time.

I didn't choose the Economic Golden Age, as I got the same result by upgrading a Town for 200 Gold and moving my Capital - so I started the Age with 3 Cities (and 6 towns).
The Master Caravaneer Legacy option (+5 GPT for each Antiquity trade route) was brilliant this time - giving me an extra 80 Gold per turn on top of the 135 I started the age with.

I had enough Influence to befriend 3 IPs off the bat, I chose Military and Expansion for the extra Settlement limit + Cultural.

My starting yields (except for Happiness) were better than all opponents - even Pachacuti, who ended the previous Age with twice my science output.

I actually chose the Government that gives either Food or increased Naval production, that's a first time for me, but seemed very relevant considering the game setup.

On Turn 3, Ashoka turned Helpful, I allied, and on turn 11 I allied Pachacuti. I was now allied to six opponents! One the one hand, that's great, on the other, you can't pillage and plunder your allies, so not that great after all. Still, I could use Himiko as my punching bag to build up my Bucaneers' XP so they can set sail and settle the Distant Lands.

On Turn 38, I settle my first Town in Distand Lands, using a Buccaneer. I immediately upgrade it to a City so I can build the Havana Harbor wonder. 21 turns later, the Wonder is built!

Ibn Battuta wants me to join his war against Lafayette, but I refuse because I see that Ibn is the only AI that's started generating Treasure Fleets. He's got 1 Town in the Distant Lands, not far from our Homelands, so if I break the alliance I can start plundering his Treasure Fleets Shortly after I capture the first Treasure Convoy, which he manages to capture back, which I then capture again - unlocking a very welcome and surprising bonus - 1 extra movement for naval units!
I keep a Buccaneer and 4 ships outside that town and I think I captured a total of 9 Treasure Convoys from him during the age.

By turn 62 I had suzerained 12 IPs and was befriending the remaining 6. The AI didn't get a sniff in this time!
Around this time, the wars started. I re-allied with Ibn to go to war with Lafayette, who's only got 2 Settlements left. At the same time, Xerxes declares war - what's his problem, he's in Distant Lands and I haven't bothered him at all...

Some time later, I pump my War Support against Xerxes to +7, and he agrees to trade his ex-capital Parsa for my new 1-resouce Town! I've now got enough DL Settlements to complete the Military legacy path, I just have to convert them - which I always do when the 10-turn counter hits.

Lafayette offers Roma for peace, I refuse as I'm about to take both Roma and his new Capital Rouen. The next turn, that snake gives Roma to Ibn for peace!

Crisis strikes, it's Revolution! Good thing my Happiness is well sorted.

I take Lafayette's Capital Rouen, but meanwhile he's killed off one of my City States, which is now his Capital and only settlement. I surround him, but no way is he getting off the hook that easy - I don't want the age to progress if I take him out. He can sit there and sweat for the rest of the age - the bastard deserves it for giving away Roma to Ibby B!!

It's getting too peaceful, and Xerxes' declaration out of the blue still irks me, so I send my fleet to his borders and buy 2 Commanders full of units - and declare. I'm getting my first Future Tech in 3 turns, meaning there's 13 turns left of the age, and I hope I have enough to take his 3 Settlements:

I succeed with relative ease, and Xerxes is gone 1 Turn before the Age ends.

I didn't capture too many enemy Ships - at least not on purpose. It just ends up getting too micro-managey moving all those Ships around.
But when a Naval battle ensued, of course I didn't hold back, so I had a considerable fleet in the end: 7 Buccaneers, 13 Galleons, 15 Sloops and 7 Cogs!

I had a lot of fun capturing enemy Treasure Convoys as well as spawning my own Convoys on their Resources using the Buccaneer ability. I particularly recall a hilarious battle of Himiko's Treasure Convoy - it changed hands 5 times in 5 turns
@MutilationWave I disagree that the Buccaneers' abilities seem pointless, for me they were the only way I could settle the DLs, and the main reason I ended up with 114 Treasure Fleet Points

Eddy and the Pirates make for a really cool combination, but it involves a lot of micro-management, so I look forward to a different game next time out - preferably not an Archipelago map again. I'll definitely revisit this combo in the near future though!

Final standings, scores and empire:

I never found out why upgrading my Ships was so cheap:

...and I'll never know why Simon didn't capture my Town after destroying all my units in a surprise attack - of course a few turns later my Navy rolled in and effectively purged his forces from my homeland:

Final word: As with every other patch, I had high hopes that Firaxis had improved the AI and made the game more difficult. And as with every other patch, I came away disappointed. Deity just isn't challenging enough, unfortunately

 

[MutilationWave]

Wow, you are really making the most of the countdown! I only had three Buccos. Your culture and gold are excellent. Especially culture because you didn't take the culture government, that's nuts! How did you do that? The reason my science did so well was Monasteries, the best UI in the game in my opinion.

That is some incredibly cheap unit upgrading. I can't imagine why.

How many cities did you end up with? I've been playing tall-ish lately, only running the same three cities I had in antiquity (agreed the keep your cities legacy is terrible, you can just change capitals and pay a tiny amount of gold to get cities back). I wish I had got Havana Harbor and Nan Modal, but I just never converted a Distant Lands settlement to a city. This did however allow me to complete every building in my cities. My game would actually be a great setup to go for a quick modern military victory, but I'm calling it to set up our next game. I finished at 4am... so much micro.

 

[Berrern]

Wow, you are really making the most of the countdown! I only had three Buccos. Your culture and gold are excellent. Especially culture because you didn't take the culture government, that's nuts! How did you do that? The reason my science did so well was Monasteries, the best UI in the game in my opinion.

That is some incredibly cheap unit upgrading. I can't imagine why.

How many cities did you end up with? I've been playing tall-ish lately, only running the same three cities I had in antiquity (agreed the keep your cities legacy is terrible, you can just change capitals and pay a tiny amount of gold to get cities back). I wish I had got Havana Harbor and Nan Modal, but I just never converted a Distant Lands settlement to a city. This did however allow me to complete every building in my cities. My game would actually be a great setup to go for a quick modern military victory, but I'm calling it to set up our next game. I finished at 4am... so much micro.

Yeah I had to build a lot of Buccaneers as I didn't have a Settler factory like you did with Isabella!
4 of my DL Settlements was founded by the Buccaneers, and the other 4 were captured from Xerxes.

I ended up with 5 Cities, after the changes made in 1.2.5 I typically aim to have 4-5 Cities in Exploration. Of course, this means I won't get to construct all the buildings in every City, but that's how it should be - I prioritise based on adjacencies.
I always try to Suzerain 2 Scientific IPs (and take the +5% boost to constructing buildings in Cities per Scientific CS), which offsets the extra building costs of 1 City.

As for your question about how I got so much Culture, to be honest, I don't know!
I loaded up the save from the last turn of that Age, and the 1504 culture per turn is misleading, as 3 of my Cities were doing the Cultural Festival (trying to get that final Future Civic!). But even when removing those, the culture was still 1352. I see that I got 80 from Alliances (they really nerfed that bit - which is a good thing!). Looking at the Culture output, 2 of my Cities were producing tons of Culture, and the majority is coming from Buildings (I had some great mountain adjacency spots packed with Specialists):

Agreed on the Monasteries, they're definitely one of the best CS bonuses, although I'd also add the Minor Embassy to the list, as if you have multiple Alliances you'll be printing Influence!

Happy to hear you're abandoning Modern in favour of a new game!
I find myself disliking Modern more and more myself, it's always a walk-over due to the lead I've built up in the previous 2 Ages, and the AI does nothing to stop you from reaching your victory goals. I only play it to rank up the Leaders. But as you alluded to in a different post (I think), it's more fun just starting another game with that Leader instead...

Wow, 4am, impressive! I used to love playing at night, but nowadays I gotta wake up at 6am to take my dogs out, so no more late night gaming for me... I'm no stranger to playing from 7am until the late evening though!

 

[MutilationWave]

New Game! I tried to create a bit of a scenario.

We are Ashoka World Renouncer of the Maurya. The world seems torn apart before the eyes of our small tribe. A foreboding volcano shadows the jungle, and a flooded river threatens on the other side. The ocean at our backs, we must spread our people's resilience throughout the land.

20 turn end of age countdown. Catastrophic disasters. Poteskwate (+1 Food per age in Settlements for each IP suzed) and Groma (1 Expansionist point) for mementos. I disabled the damned plague because of how mad it made me last game. Everything else is Deity Standard Continents and Islands. Our unofficial objective here is to colonize as much of the world as possible by any means necessary, ignoring the settlement cap with our incredible happiness generation.

I'm open to suggestions for exploration civ. We can lock it in now or we can see how it plays out.

Map Seed -337204130
Game Seed -337204151
Turn 1 save attached

All are welcome. Come join us for a shared game!

 

[MutilationWave]

Should be some interesting early-game decision making here. I haven't started playing yet but this might be kind of a tough start. I'm interested to see if flood and volcano yields stack in that one minor river tile, but we might need to put buildings there. Hmm.

 

[Berrern]

We are Ashoka World Renouncer of the Maurya. The world seems torn apart before the eyes of our small tribe. A foreboding volcano shadows the jungle, and a flooded river threatens on the other side. The ocean at our backs, we must spread our people's resilience throughout the land.

Great scenario, good job!
A somewhat tricky starting spot - none of my favourite resources in close proximity and a lot of water tiles!

This one will be interesting, I'll get started tomorrow

 

[MutilationWave]

Rice is awesome and it fits the playstyle. That's the only good news though. I like the challenge. I restarted about 30 times.

 

[Berrern]

Rice is awesome and it fits the playstyle. That's the only good news though. I like the challenge. I restarted about 30 times.

Rice is indeed great, but not very impactful in the very beginning.
But with catastrophic disasters and that volcano and river next to it, that tile will become a yield-fest like no other!

Love the challenge too, can't wait to get started!

 

[MutilationWave]

Do resource tiles get increased yields from disasters? I've never noticed or maybe never had a resource next to a volcano in my territory.

I don't think the navigable river tiles on the far side will get volcano yields.

 

[Sekou]

Massive land war with Machiavelli in the Exploration Age. He snuck attacked various cities and I was asleep at the wheel. My capitol of Athens was teetering but I pushed the ruffians off. He took like three or four of my cities because my military was in a bad spot as one Commander had gone overseas for a tour in the New Lands

But I reversed course, got some breathing room and started putting my Influence in to War Support, eventually reaching +7. I steamrolled him then, pushing him back to the brink as I was now 3 or 4 cities over max cap. War ended and my happy little Greek-Spaniards enjoyed a fantastic Peace Dividend as I proceeded to buy up as many buildings as I could that I'd neglected. Good times!

 

[Berrern]

I disabled the damned plague because of how mad it made me last game.

I guess I'm actually one of the few who likes the plague!
While it's certainly a pain in the a**, the bonuses you can get if you handle it well (build 4 Altars in Antiquity, and you get Piety for free + 50% towards constructing Temples) are great, and in my last game my City Pataliputra was in major trouble until the Plague struck! The City had 5 walled Districts but I only had 2 defensive units there, and was surrounded by enemies. No problem, before they could break down the Walls, the Plague killed them off - the City defended itself

Still, it'll be nice to play a game without it for once

 

[Berrern]

Do resource tiles get increased yields from disasters? I've never noticed or maybe never had a resource next to a volcano in my territory.

They definitely do!
I wasn't 100% sure either, but that Volcano just erupted on me river just flooded (not for the first time!), and the Rice tile got +1 Production as a result

EDIT: Wrong disaster mentioned, there's so many of them it's hard to keep track!

 

[MutilationWave]

Hell yeah, my river hasn't flooded yet but the volcano started popping off turn 2.

I just ate a settler and scout loss, playing too reckless.

 

[Berrern]

Hell yeah, my river hasn't flooded yet but the volcano started popping off turn 2.

I just ate a settler and scout loss, playing too reckless.

That could've been me! I also sent an unguarded Settler out (gold is hard to come by...), and a Barb Warrior was on its tail all the way. It survived though!

Of course I lost a Scout, that's par for the course.