The Community Deity Game #13 - THE Inca

[Shark Diver]

Welcome to the 13th installment in the Community Deity Game series!

CDG 12 - THE Inca - Rocky Mountain High

We aim to post an interesting challenge at the beginning and middle of each month. There is a suggested Victory Condition and a list of Achievements for each map. Please see the CDG Series Discussion Thread to express yourself if you have remarks and ideas. Please note that maps you wish to share must have map packs disabled, so those who do not have them can enjoy the challenge. To do this, you go into the DLC option from the Main Menu and untick the options for ‘Explorers Map Pack’, ‘Scrambled Nations’, and ‘Scrambled Continents’. You will need to do this every time you start a new game; or you might just simply delete the map packs from your computer.

When posting about your victory, please begin the post with the turn number, victory condition, and achievement points in bold text - e.g. “T247 DiploV, 10 points”. This is so the kind volunteer who updates the finishers spreadsheet can see it more easily.

We welcome all comments and write-ups and invite you to post screenshots of key moments and the moment of victory (if you are successful), but please use the SPOILER tag if you post a picture, make a comment about which civs are in the game, about natural wonders, locations of ancient ruins, terrain features, luxes, resources, etc. In short, if it’s information you can only know by playing the game, don't spoil it for others by divulging this information in the open. Thank you for your co-operation, and have fun!

Spoiler for UA and UB:

Spoiler :

In this game you will be playing as Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the 9th Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cusco. As well as being a very good looking and sharply dressed lad, you also have the ability to build the Great Andean Road (these are even more fun when you research the technology "All Terrain Vehicles"), construct the aesthetically pleasing and quite powerful Terrace Farm, and command the greatest warriors the world will ever know; The Mighty Incan Slinger!!!!!

Spoiler for map type and settings:

Spoiler :

Standard Size, Standard Speed, Standard # of Civs and CS, raging barbarians. Map type is Fractal, which means it can be somewhat random. Map was not altered (mostly because I have no clue how to do so).

Spoiler for hints about which AIs you might encounter:

Spoiler :

If you survive long enough, you'll meet 5 other native American tribes as well as a couple of historical European conquerors....errrr.....colonists.

Spoiler for difficulty:

Spoiler :

Medium: Inca are a strong Civ but get no real bonuses towards CV. Several of the opponents have the ability to make CV challenging.

Spoiler for starting location:

Spoiler :

Designated Victory Condition: Cultural. All VC are enabled.

Spoiler for achievements:

Spoiler :

A. Build/buy at least 10 Slingers and keep them alive all game. They may be upgraded. (3 points)
B. 1 point for each Wonder built or captured that has a theming bonus AND is fully themed (8 points possible).
C. Build your capital as large as possible (30+ = 1 point, 35+ = 2 points, 40+ = 3 points, 45+ = 4 points).
D. Build a ton of Terrace Farms (for purpose of achievement points, only Terrace Farms adjacent to mountains count). (10+ = 1 point, 15+ = 2 points, 20+ = 3 points, 25+ = 4 points).
E. Build Machu Pichu. (1 point, + 1 bonus point if it is built IN Machu).

Fun Bonus Points - Steal land from

Spoiler :

Spain

using

Spoiler :

Hernan Cortez

and/or convert the two European nations' capitals to YOUR religion (1 point for the land steal, 1 point for having the capitals of both of the European invaders' capitals worship your religion at game end).

Quick combat and movement are off (which is the default, turn them on if you like).
Game Version - 1.0.3.279
Downloadable Content includes: Wonders of the Ancient World DLC. Gods and Kings expansion, Brave New World Expansion, and the Spain/Inca one. The map packs are intentionally excluded.

Before you download the map, please take a moment to speculate here in this thread on your initials thoughts plans for the game. Will you settle in place? What are your plans for founding? What are your plans for getting the most from the UU?

Spoiler for links to previous games in CDG series:

Spoiler :

I have no idea how to make this work. I'll try to edit it in later if someone can give me instruction.

View attachment CDGPachacuti_0000 BC-4000.Civ5Save

 

[Wild_Woojsha]

So is it considered cheating for achievement E if I rename my capital Machu Pikachu? I'm looking forward to starting this one, all the cultural victories on the Venice map have me itching for a good culture game. We don't have enough of those.

 

[Shark Diver]

So is it considered cheating for achievement E if I rename my capital Machu Pikachu? I'm looking forward to starting this one, all the cultural victories on the Venice map have me itching for a good culture game. We don't have enough of those.

I'm going to have to vote no point on that one, but you get a brownie point for creativeness.

(Edit: "No" meaning you don't get the points)

(Edit 2: Is everyone ok with the achievements in general?)

 

[beetle]

Looks great, thanks!

Think I SIP and beeline Petra, reloading when I miss it by 20+ turns.

Is everyone ok with the achievements in general?

Nice job I think! Two clarifications: The slingers, I assume are, okay to upgrade? For converting the non-natives (and maybe write it that was as to not name the civs), is it one each or one point for both?

 

[Shark Diver]

Looks great, thanks!

Think I SIP and beeline Petra, reloading when I miss it by 20+ turns.


Nice job I think! Two clarifications: The slingers, I assume are, okay to upgrade? For converting the non-natives (and maybe write it that was as to not name the civs), is it one each or one point for both?

Slingers are ok to upgrade.

I'm thinking 1 point if you convert both. I'll edit to reflect those observations.

 

[beetle]

Okay, then initial build order will be scout, scout, shrine, then Slingers x10. Settlers and maybe a worker in there at some point.

Is Machu Pichu the 2nd or 3rd Incan city?

Also, does converting the European caps after conquering them count for the point?

 

[consentient]

This is an awesome map. Maybe the best of the Deity shared games so far

 

[Shark Diver]

Okay, then initial build order will be scout, scout, shrine, then Slingers x10. Settlers and maybe a worker in there at some point.

Is Machu Pichu the 2nd or 3rd Incan city?

Also, does converting the European caps after conquering them count for the point?

Machu is the 2nd expo/3rd city. Tiwanaku is the 1st expo/2nd city. Interestingly, Ica is the 11th city (and it's only interesting because I've been there).

Converting European caps absolutely counts after conquering them. Payback being a b*tch and all....

Thank you Consentient, for the kind words. Rolling about 50 maps, playing 20 or so turns in most of them, can get a bit tedious (as I'm sure you know), but you know it when you've found what you're looking for. There was one other map that had more possible Terrace Farms than I've ever seen, but it was REALLY crowded thanks to unfortunate CS placement. I may look into trying to figure out how you RSGs do the map editor thingie.

I'm about 60 turns into my attempt, having put Byzantium on temporary hold, and I'm enjoying it. There are going to be a lot of very different experiences on this map because it seems that there are several strategic decisions early. Anyone care to place bets on whether or not I get Petra?

 

[beetle]

Anyone care to place bets on whether or not I get Petra?

It went on turn 75 in my game. Is that early/late/typical? I was seven turns out from researching Currency.

 

[Shark Diver]

It went on turn 75 in my game. Is that early/late/typical? I was seven turns out from researching Currency.

t75 is about average. I always like to get it by t80 if going Petra Gambit and around t70 if beelining and hard building. If you see the AI with desert, get them in a war ASAP even if you declare from halfway around the map.

 

[Shark Diver]

Off to a rather promising start and plenty of action.

Thru t115

Spoiler :

I settled one spot over on the sheep next to the mountain. With CV as the goal, science needs to be priority and I'm not going to give up an Observatory for a smelly flock. With all of that desert, I'm immediately thinking Petra (which might have something to do with why I chose this map).

Warrior went North, got a Pottery ruin on t2, so science is off to a great start. He met the religious CS a few turns later, so religion is off to a good start. He then went East, got a culture ruin and met Antwerp who has KSM and has a good Terrace Farm location. I'm already considering Antwerp to be one of my expos with that type of terrain and being so close to my capital and planned expos, so I stole his worker and did not give peace. Antwerp, you will be mine!!!

B.O. was Scout, Monument, Shrine, Granary, ToA (t43), Library, Pyramids (t70), Petra (t80), Oracle (t89), NC (t96). I bought 3 Slingers. Yeah, that's a lot of early Wonders, but considering that this is a CV game, I want some GE's for later Wonders, and 3 of those Wonders give GE points. The first GE popped around t90, and I built an early Garden and will get National Epic up ASAP. Cusco is a very nice city already.

Scout went West, met a couple of CS and Portugal and Brazil. Brazil had decided not to do any Eastern exploration, so the Scout picked up 4 more ruins, 3 right in his backyard, including 60 faith, a pop ruin, and he became a Sclinger (Incan version of a Scarcher). He then came home to work on barb camps, CS quests, and then XP up against Antwerp.

Culture path was: Tradition opener, Left side of Liberty, Aristocracy (to help with Wonder-mongering), and I'm a few turns from finishing Tradition. Not sure where I'll go after that, but I may beeline to either LToP or SC since I have a GE sitting around waiting. No thoughts of planting the GE as I've got loads of production in Cusco already.

I did get first pantheon and took DF, so it was no surprise that I was able to found the Holy Order of Shark Diving first. Tithe and Pagodas. It seems that both Portugal and Maya have pretty strong religions, as both have sent Missionaries towards me already and my NE expo is practicing Portugal's Catholicism already. I got one Pagoda in Cusco, but had to buy a Missionary to convert expos 2 & 3 to start some religious pressure. I did buy a Cathedral in Tiwanaku, courtesy of Maria, but I'll probably have to work to get my religion in there. Perhaps.....I am building temples very early so Grand Temple will be up soon.

My first expo went NW by the lake/mountain to grab the Cotton, block Portugal, and grab some good TF sites. 2nd expo went for a long walk to the coast to grab Rock of Gibraltar (and some other good tiles). This did not make Hiawatha very happy and he felt compelled to make his displeasure at my settling habits known. I, of course, apologized profusely and pinky-swore not to do so in the future. Of course, I then proceeded to pump out a 3rd expo to grab the NE mountain area just South of Antwerp and now Hiawatha decided to send about a dozen Mohawk Warriors towards me to see what was so attractive about my lands. He's also the tech leader so I'm thinking I may be in for just a bit of trouble, especially considering my capital already had 4 Wonders.

I let him get his troops all the way to Cusco's borders, then mined a purchased Copper tile and used it to bribe Pocatello to DoW Hiawatha. The Iriquois troops are going to have a very long trek back to defend his lands and I'm not giving him open borders to help him. Perhaps Pocatello can set him back some.

Spain asked me to DoW Portugal around t50 and I gladly accepted as Maria had some desert around her. I don't think they fought too hard as they made peace somewhat quickly and I did the same shortly thereafter. I'm too busy focusing on my arch-enemy Antwerp (and I'm not kidding).

Never in the history of this game has a CS spammed so many advanced units out. Antwerp even got my nearby city down to 0 hp (but no melee units) at one point. Between worrying about Hiawatha and losing my fight with Antwerp (no units lost) I had to research Construction earlier than I had planned, so I only got 5 Slingers built so that Achievement is toast.

Right now, Cusco is pumping out units/buildings every 3 turns and I should be able to surround Antwerp and take the city without casualties, even with its very tough defensive terrain, IF, and that's a big IF, I can ever whittle his units down so I can get close. In the meantime, I'm getting some serious XP and the Sclinger already has Logistics.

CS quests have been very good to me and I've had friends/allies constantly keeping me (barely) happy without spending a dime. Sadly, Ur is my ally and they have Whales, but since the city spawned off the coast, they aren't working the Whales. I'm wondering if I can send a work boat up there for them?

Big decision here is which Cultural Wonder to beeline after my rather late Unis.

Also, I've met everyone besides Monte. If he's on an island all alone it could spell trouble for CV. I guess that's why we have Music. Because pop growth is good in all expos, I'm going to split up the Guilds and Tiwanaku is finishing up Writer's guild already. Perhaps I'll head straight to Acoustics to get GMs going early as well.

One last note: Pyramids with Inca is really powerful. You get your free roads and TF up quickly and the pillage repair in hills is awesome.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

@shark diver

you didn't include any of the settlers in your build order, were they all bought? did you build them in your first expo? i'm confused

 

[Shark Diver]

@shark diver

you didn't include any of the settlers in your build order, were they all bought? did you build them in your first expo? i'm confused

Good catch YCJ.

Spoiler :

First settler was from Liberty. 2nd and 3rd were back-to-back and right before Pyramids, so somewhere in the t50's. Both were built in Cusco. I had to hurry to get my spots once I met Hiawatha the spammer and realized how close to me he was. I'm quite sure he'll let me know about it sometime soon.

 

[donkeyfish]

Last time I speculated (in #12), my speculation turned out to be a miserable plan This time I will be cautious and speculate without much risk:

- Settle next to Mountain, with desert, on a coast. That can't be to bad. Even if I lose a Sheep
- I´m hoping for Mt. Kilimanjaro somewhere

 

[beetle]

Off to a rather promising start and plenty of action.

I love these stories-in-progress. I have been reluctant to post my own since it seems to take me several tries to persevere.

I settled in place, which was good because I only just barely had room for expos. (I have the minimum city distance set to four tiles.) I did pick up Desert Folklore, but only the last religion. Faith buildings were gone though, so I picked Happiness from Gardens which will (eventually) be good (my cities are wet), and the European religions are dominating. Which is okay, since that way I get to pick up some faith buildings and Jesuit Education.

My NC was late, about T115 on four cities, but I built a dozen slingers and Machu Picchu in Machu. I don’t anticipate taking caps until Machinery, so most of my efforts have gone to keeping my economy rolling to afford upgrades. I pulled off the Slinger to CB transition quickly enough, so I am optimistic.

I DOW’d the European to the NE early, as much for the RP as anything else. In addition to most of my workers, the NE European has also gifted me two virgin GPr. I planted one GPr four hexes from my cap, so and reloaded back 50 turns because that is how long it took me to realize I was not working the tile...

I made white peace when the UU started showing up. I was still mostly using slingers at that point, the withdrawal-before combat having saved four of them. My only unit lost so far has been my warrior-turned-spearman.

The NE European is very ambitious. As soon as I made peace, she DOW’d the only AI near her (the other European), and quickly took a city. She also settled next to me on the only tile available in the space. (Which was fine actually, since I cannot count, and I thought the land would all go to waste.) After the peace deal expired, I took her city quickly with my new-to-me CBs. I am going to try flanking her, taking her native cities out, then liberating the other European.

At this point I have missed Petra and Sistine Chapel, both by a wide margin. This will not be a peaceful CV. But I guess with the plan from T0 to kill the Europeans, I was not really expecting that!

This did not make [snip] very happy and he felt compelled to make his displeasure at my settling habits known. I, of course, apologized profusely and pinky-swore not to do so in the future. Of course, I then proceeded to pump out a 3rd expo to grab the NE mountain area just South of Antwerp...

FWIW, breaking the promise is a much worse diplo penalty than refusing the demand.

I am doing four-city Tradition, and my second expo got the same scolding from the same AI. I think it is like six hexes of desert between us, so you would think he would be upset with his neighbor rather than me. I cannot bribe those two into a war. That is troubling, but not as troubling as the faraway runaway! First expo N on the mountain next to the cotton. Third expo on the coastal sheep four tiles S of Cusco.

...I let him get his troops all the way to Cusco's borders, then mined a purchased Copper tile and used it to bribe ... troops are going to have a very long trek back to defend his lands and I'm not giving him open borders to help him.

LOL, very, very nice!

P.S. What is TF an abbreviation for?

 

[Wild_Woojsha]

P.S. What is TF an abbreviation for?

I'm pretty sure that's for Terrace Farms. I can't think of anything else that abbreviates to TF.

I played 88 turns and settled the sheeps as well. I went down to the sheep and cows for Expo two, then up to the cotton for expo 3, and to the edge of the desert and continent for expo 4. I stole 4 workers from two city states, and had improved a lot of my land, and I was just about to finish Petra when it was sniped by the faraway runaway. I'm going to restart from the beginning, my bad city placement is causing me to fall behind into losing territory, and I also apparently only obtained 5 slingers, which was unnecessary. I hate that Comp bows and terrace farms are on the same tech, those things are fantastic.

I'm looking forward to trying this again, this map is great!

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

t129*

Spoiler :

(* = cheatfest!) I just don't enjoy the early game in Diety, so I gave myself a Scout and Worker, so I'm disqualified. Oracle went t47 (sheesh).

SIP, regretting not settling the mtn sheep. 3 expos will all have Observatories and Gardens. 1st expo on lake 1 E of Cotton, 2nd 5 E on W side of lake, 4th 4 SE of that lake W of sheep in the pass.

Bought a ton of tiles for Petra (t79) and lux, got Machu (Cusco t126). Didn't even try for ToA, and saw all 3 Tradition civs building HG so didn't try for that either. Only had 6 Slingers before CB (wanted TF ASAP, and built Walls in expos early).

Stole Compass and Astronomy from Pacal, I pretty much never steal tech - just not cricket, IMO. He has all religious wonders, and it's been nothing but blocking rel units half the game (very tedious and dull). I keep considering DOWing, and he finally has a GP coming, so might. My religion has Mosques and Cathedrals, but hitting Renn earlier than planned is going to make them expensive. Pacal also has 2, and has SS, happy Temples, and culture Pastures. I may just steal his GP and wait for all MY buildings, then convert myself to his religion! 3 buildings with SS? 9 Pastures? Is there a downside to this?

Iroq is doing something I don't recall seeing before - Tradition and only 2 city start, got the GW and HG and had basically no units for a long time (?).

 

[Wild_Woojsha]

t129*

Spoiler :

(* = cheatfest!) I just don't enjoy the early game in Diety, so I gave myself a Scout and Worker, so I'm disqualified. Oracle went t47 (sheesh).

SIP, regretting not settling the mtn sheep. 3 expos will all have Observatories and Gardens. 1st expo on lake 1 E of Cotton, 2nd 5 E on W side of lake, 4th 4 SE of that lake W of sheep in the pass.

Bought a ton of tiles for Petra (t79) and lux, got Machu (Cusco t126). Didn't even try for ToA, and saw all 3 Tradition civs building HG so didn't try for that either. Only had 6 Slingers before CB (wanted TF ASAP, and built Walls in expos early).

Stole Compass and Astronomy from Pacal, I pretty much never steal tech - just not cricket, IMO. He has all religious wonders, and it's been nothing but blocking rel units half the game (very tedious and dull). I keep considering DOWing, and he finally has a GP coming, so might. My religion has Mosques and Cathedrals, but hitting Renn earlier than planned is going to make them expensive. Pacal also has 2, and has SS, happy Temples, and culture Pastures. I may just steal his GP and wait for all MY buildings, then convert myself to his religion! 3 buildings with SS? 9 Pastures? Is there a downside to this?

Iroq is doing something I don't recall seeing before - Tradition and only 2 city start, got the GW and HG and had basically no units for a long time (?).

Spoiler :

The early game is all I ever get to play, because I bug out and restart after about 100 turns of making poor choices. I don't see the point of your cheatfest though, did that really help your game out that much? Just 1 scout and 1 worker? Might as well give yourself a GDR and a few GBR's if you're gonna have a cheatfest!

Also, there is 0 downside to converting to someone else's religion, I am a big fan of it and enjoy filling my cities with every single religious building thanks to their spamming shenanigans. I'm going to focus on getting a religion next try, I took the 8 faith from wittenburg and gave up after that to try and focus on pumping out my cities and slingers.

 

[beetle]

Also, there is 0 downside to converting to someone else's religion, I am a big fan of it and enjoy filling my cities with every single religious building thanks to their spamming shenanigans.

There are three downsides to not founding: Giving up easy CS quests, having a pantheon best tuned to your dirt, and founder benefit. You can found and still enjoy filling up your cities with several religious buildings.

I'm going to focus on getting a religion next try, I took the 8 faith from wittenburg and gave up after that to try and focus on pumping out my cities and slingers.

Founding only requires an early shrine in your cap. A quest from Wittenberg would have done it too. But now that you point it out, I realize that I have built my whole game around the single achievement point for the most difficult task...

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

WW:

Spoiler :

Well, I really appreciate attempts at balancing the game. It doesn't matter the difficulty level, at some point the player just snowballs. This series does a decent job of gimping that, but typically it just pushes it back later.

On Diety you are just so far behind, then suddenly 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the game you are at par and often soon unstoppable. So it is a smoother game if you play a higher level, but gimp yourself later, if at all, and give yourself bonuses early. On Immortal I almost always stop at Secularism, or don't even open Rat at all, or put a lot of policies into Piety (which gets good at the end, actually), or just do a little of everything (very sub-optimal) because it smoothes out the difficulty.

Acken's mod does quite a lot in that regard, but since he has hard-coded a much higher level of AI aggression, I have mostly lost interest in it. I prefer war to be an option, not a must-have. I don't enjoy being on the edge of my seat constantly. Civ has a wonderful mix of tension and anticipation for new techs/units/wonders as is, IMO.

I understand a lot of really good players get bored with the game, but that has never happened to me, in part because I find the experience so rich and varied (I still see new things almost every game). Having to do almost all the same things every game just to win takes the fun out of it for me. I usually could care less about fast finishes unless I am going for certain DomV or CV approaches. I don't think I've ever lost a normal Diety game - but if all I had as a goal was to finish faster every time I would get bored soon as well.

I have really enjoyed the April Fool's games because the early game is so much better. You can actually try to do just about anything, it is a more playful experience. I realize a lot of people find them ridiculous, but to each their own, eh?

Anyway, a starting Worker is a HUGE boost, and I was able to build a Monument very early, which snowballs.