The Deity Challenge Line-up #30 - Iroquois

[stormtrooper412]

He was actually nice to me the entire game. At one point I received news of him marching an army to my cap, and I was like lol come at me bro. But he was then triple DoWed and I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, so he backed out obviously

 

[FrostK]

Defeat at turn 285 (Inca SV) while opening all required techs on turn 270.

 

[stormtrooper412]

That's some fast teching you guys are seeing. I was the tech leader by 200 in my game and if I sat back, nobody would have launched before 320ish

 

[Acken]

This is mostly due to the AI chosing the right policies (Rationalism) and putting people in the right slots. Kind of a proof the game isn't well balanced.

 

[prodi]

Added screenshot to my original post.

 

[sun8119]

SV T278

Spoiler :

Although some AIs completed Apollo they were nowhere near finishing the game. I am actually surprised that with no worker steals and only 3 cities I managed to win this before T280.

Anyway, very peaceful game on my part, not a single bribe, culture and gold was pretty weak till about T220 or so. I managed to win WF though.

Not a single early game wonder. Only AI's religion, no faith to buy a single GS. Tradition + Freedom (-31 pressure at the end) as usual. Osininka was forced to settle there due to barbarians.

 

[Olodune]

t259 Domination

Modern/Atomic slugfest

Spoiler :

Building up a solid tech base seems prudent here - I want to be able to answer a possible CV attempt from Pacha quickly if need be.

t191 Plastics, leads to a significant tech lead, and a reasonably well developed core. For some reason this was not an Order friendly game. Monty went Autocracy first, I went Order, then Inca/Russia eek: ) /Polynesia all went Freedom. That meant two full levels of Ideological pressure.

I know I could grind out an SV fairly easily here, but pushing for domination seems like a challenge on this map.



So the plan was to get some GWBs into the air, declare on Ahurbanipal (the technological laggard) and train up for super Bombers later in the game. That didn't work.

Just as I started building bombers I got dual DoWed by Russia and the Aztecs. This is very awkward since both have huge navies (so long trade routes), but are out of range of my bombers. Cathy also has troops in the Westland making trouble for my two cities there.

I ended up taking the island city of Tver' from which I could finally mount an assault on Russia:



Polynesia/Inca were mostly poshovers, but Monty was a whole different story. Usually I can just throw XCOMs at an AI that can survive the IBT and then pillage heal the following turn. Monty had a different plan.



In fact I got pushed back from both Warsaw and Tenochtitlan, losing ALL my XCOMs in the process. His navy also crushed my meagre force of subs and BBs, so in the early 250s my entire force was 7 Stealth Bombers, 3 Carriers, 2 Jet Fighters, 1 BB, 1 Sub, 1 Lancer, 1 XB, and 1 Infantry. Not an easy final war.

Of course, the Stealth Bombers can clean up the mess eventually. XCOM reinforcements seal the deal at the gates of Delhi.



The endgame could have been handled much more cleanly. If I'd known XCOMs were needed I could have set up a Nuke/XCOM blitz significantly faster.

@Acken

Spoiler :

I assume the Inca got the extra settler, right? It helped them.

 

[beetle]

Extra brutes near you
Extra forest near you
Extra settler for one of the AI

I hardly noticed the brutes, as I have been playing raging barbs. I am going uncheck that option!

I loved the map for Iroquois! Thanks! Hills with forest are best (well, only decent) terrain for longhouse. I so appreciated being able to use forest roads in core empire until railroad. The map script is never so kind.

Okay, so which AI got the buff?

 

[Acken]

Spoiler :

Incas

 

[nickytootricky]

T285 CV

Tough map, Acken! Those

Spoiler :

Incans

were on some sort of performance enhancing drugs.

LPed this one again so it'll be on youtube as soon as it uploads:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvHXlEVkYTOqMb1L8XtsUCaste3a-2_Yp

Edit: 7/9 videos are up

 

[consentient]

Nice win, nicky!

- - -

@All DCL players

Just a general announcement that (for now at least) stormtrooper412 will be taking over the updating of the spreadsheet. When he is done with the current update, he will tell Acken who will amend the link. To make his job a little easier, I suggest that when the updated version comes out, that every player check their own details to make sure they are sound. Highlighting victory posts is also a great idea. Ideally, these should begin with a message in bold like "T135 Domination", so it's really easy for him to see.

 

[beetle]

So, did anyone snag the ruins on the mountains?

Well, yes, this particular start benefits the Iroquois specifically, but they still feel like they don't even have a UA. It hardly scales past the first 50 turns, and it's not like they can snowball off that early game anyway.

Yes, the free roads are pretty weak, do not scale, and no snowballing there. The Mohawk warrior is a good defensive unit early, so built all the melee you ever need then. The keep their unique promotion, but of course woods are not relevant once you go on the offense.

But you pointed out how forested hills are great with the longhouse, and this map has plenty of those! Early production is strong, and stays strong. So not as terrible as I thought they would be.

Usually I can just throw XCOMs at an AI that can survive the IBT and then pillage heal the following turn.

What is IBT?

 

[Olodune]

So, did anyone snag the ruins on the mountains?


What is IBT?

I remember thinking: nice! late ruins! hmm. difficult to get to.

IBT: in-between-turns, or, during the AIs turns. Yeah, not very clear.

 

[peddroelm]

Absolutely not, beetle. Anyone who can do Domination on this map is far better than I am. .

Spoiler :

Land route look atrocious (bad terrain) .. But frigates ? Not all capitals accessible by water but swimming artillery should be able to finish the job once seas are secured

Also on second look terrain is not quite as bad (worker steal is problematic - but planting cities will grant forest roads for troop movement)

 

[Olodune]

@peddroelm

Peddro!

I started watching your Moo3 LP the other day. I think that was the first game I got burned by a pre-order. If I make it to the last few episodes it looks like I'll be the 2nd viewer on some of those Nice work. Out of the box it was in bad shape.

That whole memory is probably why I still haven't picked up Beyond Earth. I'll wait for a major patch (or two) first.

It would be fun to see you play this one out

Spoiler :

I think Frigates are a solid option - you can reach 4 of the starting AI's capitals - and defend the starting area from land attacks. I considered that option, but was a little worried a delayed Sci Meth would be too costly.

Artillery would be harder than usual, I think.

 

[peddroelm]

Yup - didn't finish the Moo3 LP due to lack of interest ..

 

[consentient]

Land route look atrocious (bad terrain) .. But frigates ?

Naval warfare is not my forte, and I'm very bored by any map where I can't at least take a capital or two by land.

Also on second look terrain is not quite as bad (worker steal is problematic - but planting cities will grant forest roads for troop movement)

I think the terrain is among the worst I've seen for my own preferences. Difficult to steal workers, even more difficult to get science leech from caravans. Difficult to get going in general. Not a domination-friendly map.

Regardless, I'm delighted you've blessed us with your presence, and I'm hoping you'll play some more DCLs and/or contribute to the Domination For Noobs thread which I'm putting together and you were instrumental in inspiring.

 

[beetle]

To the folks who got a fourth city on the mainland: Did you forward settle your first expo? At about what turn were you done with expos? I realize I should be able to figure out city settle order from their names, but please help me out. I was lucky to get three cities, and really counted on the mountains for screening defense, so I am quite amazed to see screen shots with what I would have thought were very vulnerable expos.

...but of course woods are not relevant once you go on the offense

...but planting cities will grant forest roads for troop movement

Nice! Anyone make much use of that outside of your core three (or four cities)?

At one point I had fortified longswords on forested hills. They stood up to quite the beating from knights and lancers. I was pleasantly surprised, especially given my low expectations for the UU/UA. Again, a fun great map for Iroquois (even if I can’t beat it).

 

[Bimblecrumbs]

I'm currently trying

Spoiler :

an Xbow onwards domination attempt, the results of which I'll post here within a week. I would post it sooner but I don't have all that much time for Civ at the moment. "Attempt" is the operative word here due to the mountain ranges, buffed Incans, slow start and other problems, so it might not be a win

 

[Olodune]

To the folks who got a fourth city on the mainland: Did you forward settle your first expo? At about what turn were you done with expos?

Spoiler :

I settled the 4th (Akwesasme) around t61 -> t63. That is a little later than normal. I may have been lucky that Assyria decided to go after India early rather than spam settlers. It is vulnerable. I think it is better to settle only 3 on the mainland followed by 2 or 3 in the west, but that requires map knowledge since it is difficult to scout the subcontinent early enough.