The Contrast Photojournals I: Austria

CrabHelmet

King
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
732
RLdXUrY.png

Hello all, and welcome to the launch of The Contrast Photojournals!

One of the best possible ways to improve one's play is to learn by contrast. Being able to see someone else approach the exact same problem, and to see how they think about and solve it, is great for analysing your own play in more detail. As such, I had the idea: why not launch a contrast photojournal series?

Here's how this series will work. For each release, I will pick a play theme (such as a particular Civ and playstyle), as suggested by you, my fellow denizens of the forum. I will generate a save, and send a copy to another player. Each of us will play 90 turns (roughly a quarter of a game), and keep a photojournal of all of our decisions, explaining why we made them. At the end of the 90 turns, we will post our saves photojournals, and review each other's choices, seeing what went well and what could have been done better. We will then play the next 90 turns, both starting from the more successful of the two saves so far.

For the first edition, my lovely assistant shall be @Tzar Sasha - a big thanks to you! Our first nation will be (drum roll please...) Erzherzogtum Österreich, the Archduchy of Austria! We shall aim to focus on diplomatic play, ending in victory at the World Congress, although we shan't be strictly locked to that just in case things change.

!! Mod version used is the 8/19 Vox Populi with EUI (not 43-Civ version). !!

Spoiler Game Settings :

Version: 19/8/18
Difficulty: Immortal
Map: Continents, Standard, 8 Civs, 16 City-States, Strategic Balance
Civ Choice: Random
Events Disabled
No Ancient Ruins
No Tech Trading
Research Agreements Enabled


Now, it falls to us to rule the entire world...
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Wow, a lot of interesting reading ahead. :)

Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough for Immortal, also I am lacking of enough free time to play :blush:
 
I think 90 turns might be not enough. Better to do like 150.

Also any chance the save gonna work with other mods (like improved city view or flag promotions)? Ideally if it can work with modpack

Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough for Immortal
Just give it a try, it is very doable
 
Wow, a lot of interesting reading ahead. :)

Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough for Immortal, also I am lacking of enough free time to play :blush:

Don't worry! This is why I picked 90 turns. If things go pear-shaped, then you can just pick up from the best person's save at turn 90. It means you can experience a little bit of Immortal but have a nice course correction if you struggle.
 
Don't worry! This is why I picked 90 turns. If things go pear-shaped, then you can just pick up from the best person's save at turn 90. It means you can experience a little bit of Immortal but have a nice course correction if you struggle.

Ah, I didn't catch this part. That is interesting idea.

Deadline for the first 90 turn?
 
Ah, I didn't catch this part. That is interesting idea.

Deadline for the first 90 turn?

No real deadline, it's not a competition or anything. We'll probably ony be discussing mine and @Tzar Sasha's in detail, although I'm sure people will have a look and see how you did. It's more for you to be able to compare. Also, don't worry about it being 90 dead-on - we're aiming to stop just before big decisions, so that e.g. for the next session every starts by choosing their Religion and we can play a full session seeing how well that works. If you hit your Great Prophet on turn 86 or whatever, you can stop it there.
 
Sounds interesting. Wish I had the time for this.

On another related question, should we open an AAR subforum to post all these photojournals that are blooming recently?
I think that will pass after some time. Those are great but i don't think people will continue doing that so frequently. It requires some effort, and also it is hard to read so many of them. With that said it would be good to keep them all in one place cause they are good example of whats going on with the game and it is good to have them easy-accesable
 
This is a great idea.
I think that will pass after some time. Those are great but i don't think people will continue doing that so frequently. It requires some effort, and also it is hard to read so many of them. With that said it would be good to keep them all in one place cause they are good example of whats going on with the game and it is good to have them easy-accesable
I know I won't be doing them after summer break ends
 
I convinced myself to try this but the save file require a DLC called: Upgrade Data 1. I think that is the reason why I cant load the game. What is this exactly?

UPDATE: Looks like I also missing 3 map pack (Explorer, Scrambled Continents&Nations). :sad:
 
Last edited:
...I have no idea. You shouldn't need the map packs? The map used is only standard continents.

EDIT: This is using the Expanded User Interface version of VP - so modules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6c (the 43-Civ version). Should be quite easy to do a clean install and get it working.
 
Tell me where am i dumb?

Re-Installed VP with 43 civs, EUI, loaded only those 6 mods and i can't load the save. Tells me that require DLC is not available
 
Not proud of this, but here comes mine...

Turn 0. I move settler west for +10 hammers.
Furs give some +1 culture. Camp gives some +1 gold. Enhanced with caravansery. Monopoly +6 happiness (not likely). Corporation Traders Sid.
Citrus. +1f+1g. Plantation gives +1f+1g. Enhanced with garden +1+g. Monopoly +2 science (likely). Corporation TwoKay Food (more food and growth).
Turn 1. More jungle. More plantation luxuries.
Wonder wish list: Artemis (herbalist and food) + Hanging Garden (garden for the citrus). Roman Forum is too contested, and Austria does not really need to produce many diplomats.
Building order: Pathfinder. Monument. Shrine.
I don't expect to found a religion, too weak early game. I want to discover CS the earlier the better.
(Pathfinder proved to be a bad movement. I grabbed 0 goody huts and I had to keep the pathfinder near the capital for protection, Monument->Warrior would have been much better.)
Research: Wheel (may find bananas). Animal Husbandry. Military Theory. (rush Artemis)
Turn 27. Poland too close to south. Byzantium somewhere northeast (I was wrong, she's norhtwest). Egypt far west. Three nearby CS. My closest neighbours can be aggressive, but they don't have bonuses yet. Egypt is too far away to be a threat. I want to try tall diplo, so pick up Tradition.
I produced a warrior (not in time, lost 5 science to a barb) and the council. My second pathfinder got stuck in a barb camp near Vienna.
Turn 32. No things to improve. Could produce a worker, go farming instead. Met more CS.
Turn 37. Since I want Artemis, I go Justice. Research: Pottery. Calendar.
Turn 44. Pick pantheon. I don't expect to found, so I'd try to grab whatever gives more yields. Artemis is 4 turns left, so I'd risk with Goddess of Beauty. Having Egypt in the game makes me doubt, but maybe I'm able to pass a few more wonders.
Turn 48. Temple of Artemis. Producing another warrior. I need to clear the path for next cities and there are some barbs.
Turn 61. I place Salztburg towards the city states, in a good defensive spot. I'm planing on having next city in the coast, so I can trade with seaward city states. That city will be very exposed, so I need the other side to be safe.
Turn 63. Great Engineer. I'm 10 turns to Mathematics, but Hanging Gardens require 4 policies, and I'm still 20 turns for next policy. And it'll get worse with the following settled city. There's a Great Artist in 12 turns, though. I really want to have Hanging Gardens, since I'm low in food, so I'll save the Engineer for rushing it.
Turn 66. Gratz is my coastal city. It will work capital tiles when they are no longer useful to Vienna. (Fun fact, we all picked Tradition). I'm started to feel threatened by Poland. I have nothing I can trade for, sadly. I'd rather grab those horses, now that they are in my territory.
Turn 73. I'm low on gold, and I need to explore overseas to try to find more city states. So now I research Trapping -> Trade. All my cities are on fresh water so I won't miss wells.
Tuns 75. Great Artist goes for Great Work. Vienna goes to farming until Hanging Gardens is available.
Turn 80. Start building HG. Religion is due for turn 123, so maybe I'll get to found. We'll see. Expend Great Engineer, who builds Hanging Gardens in the same turn. Now religion can be found at turn 117. Nice. Economy is set. Time to build an army.
Turn 90. Egypt has founded. I'm producing some horses and want to research sailing. Mining is tempting, especially for some melee defense, but revealing the map is my priority. I'll try to defend with just horses and archers for a while.

EDIT. I can't find my screenshots. I reinstalled windows not long ago and haven't configured civV yet.
 

Attachments

Maybe you should distribute the save together with modpack? I think it is the easiest way to avoid mod conflict issues

There is no modpack? I have nothing installed other than Vox Populi, with EUI and the 43 Civ version. If people are having trouble, I can start a new version with a new on the ordinary EUI Vox Populi default (6a). I think only @tu_79 and myself have done the 90 turns so far, so you'd have to see if he was okay with that.

EDIT: You did well, @tu_79. I had the same beeline Hanging Gardens plan, and it went on turn 68! And it wasn't even Rameses!
 
Back
Top Bottom