The Deity Challenge Line-up #32 - England

[stormtrooper412]

Spoiler :

Arabian expos are directly to the NE and SE of Mayan cap. Optimally I'd take both but like I said, they have been heavily reinforced instantly

 

[cazaderonus]

Spoiler :

Arabian expos are directly to the NE and SE of Mayan cap. Optimally I'd take both but like I said, they have been heavily reinforced instantly

Spoiler :

Damn, and borders are complete ? No space to go through and just go for Palenque ? I'll take a look at a screenshot when you can up one

 

[stormtrooper412]

There is a 1 hex choke point between their borders, screenshot will explain

 

[Redaxe]

Well I ended up quitting at about turn 260. Was going for domination but I stalled trying to get to China and Russia and lost interest in bothering to finish up. All those landlocked capitals really take the heat out of a naval rush.

I will say that England does very well with the extra spy and it really shines with Autocracy Industrial Espionage.

Spoiler :

Anyway I really need to re-evaluate my Diety games. I got Skilldorado so I really should have had a fast victory but I decided to build Great Lighthouse to help with naval conquest but in hindsight that was a bad decision and really slowed things down.
I did destroy 2 of Venice's Great Merchants so they were stuck at 1 city for the rest of the game

Main problem with conquest was dealing with ideology unhappiness. I had full Liberty, Aristocracy, Naval Tradition, Notre Dam & Forbidden City (both captured), religious buildings, circus maximus, zoo's and I ended up with -20 unhappiness from ideologies

 

[stormtrooper412]

I founded with most happiness perks, so if I manage to clear up the continent, I'll just conduct an inquisition

 

[KissBlade]

Well I ended up quitting at about turn 260. Was going for domination but I stalled trying to get to China and Russia and lost interest in bothering to finish up. All those landlocked capitals really take the heat out of a naval rush.

I will say that England does very well with the extra spy and it really shines with Autocracy Industrial Espionage.

Spoiler :

Anyway I really need to re-evaluate my Diety games. I got Skilldorado so I really should have had a fast victory but I decided to build Great Lighthouse to help with naval conquest but in hindsight that was a bad decision and really slowed things down.
I did destroy 2 of Venice's Great Merchants so they were stuck at 1 city for the rest of the game

Main problem with conquest was dealing with ideology unhappiness. I had full Liberty, Aristocracy, Naval Tradition, Notre Dam & Forbidden City (both captured), religious buildings, circus maximus, zoo's and I ended up with -20 unhappiness from ideologies

I only just started these Deity challenges and have only been working through the "Easy-Medium" ones but one thing that gave me a HUGE boost in terms of my game was consentient's domination guide. While I didn't use it for pure domination victory (though I did go for the Dom win in this specific game), it pointed out a lot of timing windows that I should be aiming for when the AI is most weak and made me a lot more comfortable with just starting wars against the AI for temporary cash/worker gains. For example, ideological pressure was much easier to deal with when I identify early who is likely to cause the most pressure and simply aim to take out their cap before the tourism builds up. Some caps you do have to get creative with, for example, Persia I took out by farming up xp on my SotL's to get +1 range (instead of logistics!) and then upgrading for a 4 range battleship to be able to lob inland.

 

[cazaderonus]

Well I ended up quitting at about turn 260. Was going for domination but I stalled trying to get to China and Russia and lost interest in bothering to finish up. All those landlocked capitals really take the heat out of a naval rush.

I will say that England does very well with the extra spy and it really shines with Autocracy Industrial Espionage.

Spoiler :

Anyway I really need to re-evaluate my Diety games. I got Skilldorado so I really should have had a fast victory but I decided to build Great Lighthouse to help with naval conquest but in hindsight that was a bad decision and really slowed things down.
I did destroy 2 of Venice's Great Merchants so they were stuck at 1 city for the rest of the game

Main problem with conquest was dealing with ideology unhappiness. I had full Liberty, Aristocracy, Naval Tradition, Notre Dam & Forbidden City (both captured), religious buildings, circus maximus, zoo's and I ended up with -20 unhappiness from ideologies

Spoiler :

Damn, lucky you with eldorado.... I missed it completely as i was stuck stealing stuff from Venice. Hell, how i would have loved to get those 500g.

For ideology pressure i had the same trouble late game. Spamming zoo and happiness building from my stolen religion (as i didnt bother with it early) allowed me to avoid too much pain. Also, that's why i tend to pick order when going on a domination path i know i will win. Those happiness perk for monuments, workhouse, factories etc... are a huge boosts. Also, it's frequent you'll see many AI go for order which helps.

I agree that England is a formidable civ for domination. LBs are just OP early on. And the extra spy helps a lot if you got behind in techs. Though i ended up being tech lead at 54% alphabetization which seems pretty early for a deity game.

 

[Redaxe]

I only just started these Deity challenges and have only been working through the "Easy-Medium" ones but one thing that gave me a HUGE boost in terms of my game was consentient's domination guide. While I didn't use it for pure domination victory (though I did go for the Dom win in this specific game), it pointed out a lot of timing windows that I should be aiming for when the AI is most weak and made me a lot more comfortable with just starting wars against the AI for temporary cash/worker gains. For example, ideological pressure was much easier to deal with when I identify early who is likely to cause the most pressure and simply aim to take out their cap before the tourism builds up. Some caps you do have to get creative with, for example, Persia I took out by farming up xp on my SotL's to get +1 range (instead of logistics!) and then upgrading for a 4 range battleship to be able to lob inland.

Yes that is a good point and it one thing that distinguishes the good player from the mediocre.
You do need to take a glance at the ideology screen in the midgame to see who is leading in tourism and decide in advance which civ you should focus on. And probably in my game if I was running a bit behind I would have been better focusing on attacking China/Russia/persia earlier and dealing with Maya later.

 

[stormtrooper412]

Alright here it is. I had to wait out a few turns to get 500 bucks for the CS. Any advice on how to proceed?

 

[claudiupb]

On first impression you need more melee units, at least one or two, to keep the archers safe. Here's how I would do it:

Spoiler :

On this setup I would siege Mecca from the NE because the archers would be protected by the river, for vision you can just use a worker back and forth. The rest of the archers should stay SE of Mecca, at a safe distance, just north of the mountain, with the swordsman in front for protection, to cut reinforcements. They can advance once it's safe and help take Mecca. I would keep the horseman between those to groups, in range to capture Mecca.

After capturing Mecca, position the swordsman on one of those copper hills and take Medina, while building roads to cross the hills to Baghdad. Depending on the hidden terrain you might need more time, so you could also go for Damascus as it will make a nice puppet. You could try and split the army to attack Baghdad and Damascus at the same time, if you get a couple of more melee units to the front.

Palenque should fall easily, if they have a massive military a citadel on that hill should do the trick. After that route back to Venice, and it's off to the next continent.

Happiness may be an issue and if you can't keep all 4 Arab cities, raze one. Baghdad looks like a good candidate but it may not be. Damascus is optional, but i think it's better to eliminate Arabia from the game before they get camel archers.

 

[stormtrooper412]

I have a pair of swords and a horse readying up in a turn or two, they should swing by easily on the front lines. Thanks

edit: 1 genocide later:

Spoiler :

They didn't really offer much resistance, I saw a pair of camels, several pikes and a few odd CB. Number of casualties is I think one CB. Gawd, with the right timing, the Longbows are absolutely insane. Working on Unis now, will try to whip up some ships by the time I open Navigation and then it's away for the second part of the game, which might prove a tick more difficult. Plunder money will be used to jump start the fleet

 

[stormtrooper412]

another update and 2 more genocides. Please note the benchmarks and tell me if I'm good or behind the pace

Spoiler :

After Longbows ran wild on Arabia, taking out the Mayans was really easy even for me. Around then I opened Navigation and started massing ships. Took out Genghis and liberated a pair of city states. I then used the plunder gold to secure the second mercantile that put me up to +17. Ships are taking the long way around the continent to set up for the attack on Moscow and Beijing. After that, I will have to deal with Persia and then come back for Enrico, I have saved him for last

 

[consentient]

You're going to struggle against

Spoiler :

Russia and China

. They will have Industrial Era units soon. If I were you I would think about boosting tech and getting Artillery ASAP. If you can take

Spoiler :

Persepolis

before that, all the better, but tech-ing is priority. I think you've ignored tech too much to get a DomV on Continents.

 

[Bimblecrumbs]

T187 Domination

Spoiler :

First off, I didn't find El Dorado until turn 53 [Picture 1], by which time it was obviously too late for 500g. My scouts were garrisoned in cities for the honour culture/happy bonus and, since I had already met 3 other civs, I kept them there for longer than normal. That said, I stole a worker from Venice and pillaged 2 of his caravans, so 200g was better than nothing.

It was tough to only settle 3 cities on this terrain; I missed out on 3 salt etc. I teched for Iron after Pottery and settled my second city on the tundra Iron. 3rd city was on the coast in range of Old Faithful. I actually bought a shrine on about turn 25, aiming to get tithe/production, but someone took production so I gave up on my religion.

I got a 3 city NC on turn 80 [Picture 2] and hit Education on turn 109. I'd been saving up gold for this moment; I bought 2 Unis in London/York and signed 3 research agreements with my neighbours on the continent. A 3rd Uni in Nottingham was purchased about 10 turns later.

Happiness was a problem all game long; I traded for Arabia's numerous lux copies and got one off Pacal too. These trades, combined with all of the happiness buildings and Ur as a long-term ally, kept me just above zero for most of the game.

As soon as I hit Astronomy I upgraded 3 triremes and went scouting. To my joy Genghis had taken out a couple of coastal city states, including the deliciously cultural Kuala Lumpur (important since Venice had gobbled up the cultural city states near me), so those were free game-long allies; I upgraded 6 galleasses and waged war. It's worth noting that I reloaded about 10 turns back to Navigation (turn 137) two times:

1. Not enough longbows produced. Reload.

2. Teched towards Industrialisation. Decided upon Dynamite instead. Reload.

3. Made the above corrections and Karakorum fell on turn 146 [Picture 3]. I considered razing Beshbalik due to happiness issues, but kept it because of the Statue of Zeus. At about this time my research agreements kicked in and got me through Steel, Printing Press and Gunpowder. I GS bulbed two times (Military Science/Fertilizer) and Oxforded Dynamite. From about turn 150 my spies were hard at work couping CSs, starting with the cultural ones; I got 4-5 before they all died.

Navy:

My frigates almost had range and headed around the continent to China. China died [Picture 4] and then, leaving 2 behind to defend vs. Russian/Persian units, the rest went to Venice. Range 3 made it an easy capture [Picture 5].

Army:

For such nice lands my production was sub par, thus I focused on producing as many low-level units as possible and mass upgrading them; Picture 6 shows my knights (soon to be cav with that GS), 5 for Arabia/Maya and 5 for Russia/Persia. The cannons and longbows to the north are standing on a road to speed up reinforcements. Later came a wave of Artis; 3 more for Arabia/Maya, 2 for Russia and 2 for Persia. I purchased a few more cavalry and split them between the 2 fronts as required.

After Astronomy, Russia attacked China (paid 11GPT for that), Arabia freely attacked Venice, the Maya went to war with Arabia with me, and Persia attacked the Mongols' remaining city Pasargade across the water (for 2 iron and open borders), sustaining heavy casualties. I got really lucky with the Maya; several turns before they had required for 30GPT for the war declaration. These wars really helped to reduce the AI army sizes and secure a fast win.

From the east, Mecca was very open to attack and I took it with cav, cannons and longbows. Pacal was sieging Medina and I caught his army off guard, flanking them [Picture 7]. I let Pacal take Medina, then declared war and took it back to reduce the happiness hit. From there it was a straight push west through his remaining muskets, gatlings and cannons, which cavalry ravage [Picture 8].

On the other continent I cleared out Catherine's troops first with longbows and cav because she had the larger army. I made sure to pillage all of her roads so she couldn't reinforce from anywhere. There were 2 safe spots for Artis to fire on Moscow and my 2 Artis reached it just in time [Picture 9].

For Darius I needed to take Pasargade (most of his army died here, the rest at Ecbatana and Peking) to safely swim across the lake and attack his cap [Picture 10].

For happiness reasons I had to take Venice, Palenque, Moscow and Persepolis all on the last turn.

Social Policies: Honour 5, Commerce 5.

I purposefully didn't want to add Autocracy (or any Ideology for that matter); happiness had been a problem all game, I had 0 tourism and the AIs had lots. Finishing Commerce for the happiness was more important. Plus I got a very late Industrialisation after Dynamite and the game was over by then.

Techs: Philosophy ---> Engineering ---> Education ---> Astronomy ---> Metal Casting ---> Navigation ---> Machinery ---> Dynamite ---> Industrialisation ---> (Scientific Theory)

Religion: Awful.

 

[nickytootricky]

T240 CV

Spoiler :

Reasonably happy with this one. Got El Dorado fairly quickly then settled on the marble early, buying out to the gems. DOWed Arabia for about 80 turns, taking about 6 workers and a caravan or two. Expanded to 5 cities and got NC fairly quickly (about T80 if I recall) due to solid gold income which enabled the purchasing of 2 libraries. Eventually got the religion but just chose the production bonus for each follower in the capital. Built the Oracle in the 2nd city and even managed to squeeze in HG around T90 as noone else had built it. From there it was workshops as I tend to do to squeeze out the GE. Went into Acoustics first and hard built Sistine, then went back and engineered Pisa and used the GE for Uffizi. Was friends with everyone at this point so I got a RA with everyone. Unfornately missed out on PT and somehow managed to miscalculate the timing push by 1 turn so couldn't get the Rationalism policy which gives 50% boost. But still got propelled forward and got into Internet fairly early, about T225. Tried the Ackenonian methods and went straight for archeologists, hotels, and broadcast towers (went freedom as well this time instead of order). Didn't even build factories or research labs except one which I bought for the capital. I think if I hadn't trolled Arabia so much, they would have been more problematic. Handed Arabia, Persia and the Mayans a city to bulb them quicker. It did fill me with sadness to sell my hometown, Newcastle, for 1GPT to the Mayans, only to sing them "Local Hero" so we could win this "culture victory thing". lol. Getting closer to the 200 mark!

 

[nickytootricky]

Nice win, bimblecrumbs. You would never guess you were such an aggressive warmonger with such a name.

 

[Bimblecrumbs]

Yep, they never see it coming

 

[KissBlade]

Wow! 187 without that nice map boost .

Honor starts and low tech domination still terrifies me as I'm always worried it'll get into some drawn out slog but that's definitely giving me encouragement to try it sometimes.

 

[stormtrooper412]

well Nick you crazy Geordie your CVs are really impressive. This is the fastest one yet

 

[consentient]

How do you know he's a Geordie?

Do you have a telepathic bloodline compass? Should I try to find a way to mask my Viking roots?