The great DoC 1.8 UHV challenge

[Leoreth]

Hey folks, with 1.8 now officially released in a finalized version I can initiate something that I wanted to start for a long time, and that's challenging you to complete all of DoC's UHV! That's of course meant as a collective challenge, and its goal is to see if there are strategies I haven't thought of, things that are too easy or too hard etc. I can't play every game myself, and more importantly, I can only play it they way I would, and not somebody else.

It doesn't matter on which difficulty or game speed you complete the game, although monarch on normal will be the most relevant to me. Everyone who does so will be included in the opening post. If you manage to complete a certain goal faster then your predecessors, it gets a special mention. Virtual goals (i.e. all green in the victory screen even though you haven't reached the deadline yet) count as well for that purpose, although you will still have to complete the game.

If you can outline your strategy and embellish your post with some screenshots, it would be much appreciated.

Let the gaming begin!

Victories achieved:
Egypt: Tomorrow's Dawn (M/N, virtual: turn 137, Score: 6194)
China: Fresol (3000 BC start, M/N, virtual: 1260 AD, Score: ?), Tomorrow's Dawn (3000 BC start, M/N, 1605 AD, Score: 8802), Fresol (3000 BC start, M/N, virtual: 1330 AD, Score: 14519)
India: Fresol (M/N, 1200 AD, Score: 10879)
Babylonia: Tomorrow's Dawn (M/N, turn 98, Score: 9605)
Greece: Fresol (M/N, 150 AD, Score: 22374)
Persia: iOnlySignIn (E/E, Score: 63926)
Rome: Fresol (M/N, 1000 AD, Score: 18662)
Maya: civ_king (M/N, 1200 AD, Score: 4818), Tomorrow's Dawn (M/N, 1475 AD, Score: 2630)
Vikings: iOnlySignIn (3000 BC start, E/E, 1500 AD, Score: ?), Kilroy Was Here (3000 BC start, M/N, 1960 AD, Score: Dan Quayle)
Spain: strijder20 (600 AD start, M/N, 1760 AD, Score: ?)
Germany: strijder20 (600 AD start, M/N, 1963 AD, Score: 4269)
Mongols: Fresol (3000 BC start, M/N, 1470 AD, Score: 6230)
Turkey: keli (3000 BC start, M/E, 1800 AD, Score: 8878)
Iran: Qiu (600 AD start reborn Persia, M/N, 1799 AD, Score: 3245)

 

[Jellly]

It's going to be one loooooooooong night gaming I'll try complete a few, probably won't try really 'gamey' tactics or calculate the perfect city location or whatnot but it'll still be fun. Thanks for the update!

 

[iOnlySignIn]

Finally tired of managing British colonies or the American economy, I have decided to try a more war-mongering civ as my first game with 1.8. An unapologetic trade/navy person at heart, I chose the Vikings.

Goal: UHV at 1500 sharp, Epic/Emperor, 3000BC start. Max score, max stability.

Strategy: Half conquest half trade. Spain & France are top trading partners. Let Germany/England/Russia found cities at good locations and then conquer them. Beeline Privateers before 1500 for UHV.

------------

Starting tech set to Compass. The idea is to spawn a Great Merchant to bulb Civil Service, so that this way the UU and UB are accessed simultaneously. A whipped Market at Stockholm did the trick:


Used initial ships + scout for exploring. Popped 2 huts in Britain, got gold and a map. Got a tech (Forgot which. Priesthood?) from a just-about-to-collapse Carthage. Encountered the Koreans, who offered me a really lucrative deal:


Spain, England spawned at war with me. France, Germany spawned at peace. Made peace with Spain asap, traded Fur to Spain for Wine. Got my UUs and took Scotland (Ireland was settled by me). Fun fact: City Raider I Huscarl stands no chance against Longbows. Luckily I have multiple Huscarls:


Isabel is happy with me. Trade between the two nations flourished - Great Merchant after Great Merchant arrived in Madrid to fill the Viking coffers. In true Viking style, I attempted to press myself onto the dusky queen, but was informed that she's a devout Catholic, and was waiting till after marriage:


However, my citizens were scandalized. I doubt it's because of my dalliances with the Queen of Spain. In fact, the World considered me a hero. Everyone except England was Pleased or Friendly with me:


My Huscarls plundered England into poverty and then I made peace. I kept London so that it will screen out my culture from unstable areas. Soon, England offered to be my peace vassal, and I accepted. Alfred faithfully teched Aesthetics, Drama, Literature, and Music for me, as I instructed.

I used this chance to surprise declare on Germany, who had founded two cities at very desirable locations:


My Huscarls plundered southern Germany, avoiding direct conflict whenever possible. Charles did not have Civil Service yet, but he did have quite a few Crossbows. I made peace when my looting was close to finished. Got a GG in the process.

Germany offered to Capitulate, but I did not take it because I want to use it as a buffer state against France, Russia, and later Turkey. So they vassalized to France soon. No matter - take the baggage if you like it Charlemagne.

A few hundred years of peace followed. Then the Mongols attacked Russia. I declared on Russia, unleashing my long-prepared raiding parties. The Viking Horde plundered through Russia after the Mongol Horde did the hard work of actually capturing the cities. I built a Knight with Mobility specifically for this purpose:


After that it's a few hundred years of peace again as Russia collapsed under the combined assault of the Vikings and Mongols. The Khan Opened Borders with me out of respect, but the majority of trade with the Viking Union still comes from her French and Spanish allies.

Tech is set to Banking. I built the Basilica di San Marco in Oslo, my capital and trade center. Then a Great Spy netted Optics, Engineering, and later Philosophy from Spain. The Vikings are off to the oceans.

Meanwhile, fair Isabel finally gave in to my advances, after I founded Protestantism but did not switch to it:


The Viking Conquerors arrived in the New World with much raucous. However, their wise leader disbanded most of them, and instead just sent a few Knights and a Huscarl on a raiding galore across the Mexican plateau. Monte never understood why he was left alive. He didn't need to, either:


The year 1500 was coming nearer and so was my tech beeline towards Military Science. Finally, the long-awaited Viking Privateer fleet cut into the waves, and all coasts of Europe were drenched with blood, friend (Portugal peace vassalized to me) and foe alike. I was delighted to discover that workboats count towards the ship numbers UHV. That made plundering seafood doubly essential for victory.

In 1500, on Dutch spawn, I suicided all my Privateers against the Dutch fleet and got my latter 2 UHVs simultaneously. No Golden Age followed, but I won:


Only scored an Abraham Lincoln. Worse than any of my properly played England games. Perhaps it's because I built only 1 Wonder.

 

[Akbarthegreat]

D'ling 1.8 now. Will certainly try after I get it.

 

[Jellly]

Righto so decided to try out Vikings, I'd tried previously in earlier versions but failed so thought I'd give it a go.

Normal Difficulty
Normal Time Speed
600AD Start

From my previous play I knew that (at least for me) the first goal of acquiring 1500 gold by 1500AD was going to be the toughest. After that being the first to settle the New World would be not too tough, but I had to be ready to settle by 1500 as I knew that is when the Dutch spawn and after that the New World would start to be colonised. The final goal of sinking 25 ships could easily be obtained at my own leisure.



I quickly settle Oslo as my capital and Kalmar as well. I decide not to use my third settler until I am absolutely sure that I can acquire 1500 gold by 1500 as a third city would drag my economy down without enough benefits (at least in my mind).

I started on the first goal by sending my 2 axemen and 2 swordsmen down to Byzantium held Greece. They raid most of the tile improvements in the Greece/Anatolia area before eventually dying at the hands of Arabian camel archers while the ships are hunted down by Byzantium ships. Before declaring war on Byzantium I trade Feudalism for Calendar and another tech that I can't remember.

Meanwhile I send my scout to pop all the tribal villagers, receiving some gold, maps and another scout. Eventually I just suicide the scouts as they could do no more.



While waiting for the European civs to spawn so I can begin plundering their lands I research Civil Service so I can train Huscarls while building up my fleet. Catholicism also spreads to my lands in this time period. I gift Sailing to Russia to appease them and hopefully cover my flank while I go on the offensive in England, France, Germany and Spain.

I finish research on Civil Service but realise I need Iron to train Huscarls I train some Levy's in the meantime as a trireme I used to scout England showed they had a few knights. I also trade Civil Service for Meditation and more importantly Compass - a step towards Optics and closer to settling the New World.



I finally finish hooking up the Iron and begin the training of the army around 1080 AD. I also set my technology to 0% after realising that there was no point in researching Guilds. For the current time the goal of acquiring 1500 gold was more important.



Finally I completed my Grand Raiding army/fleet at 1250 AD. My plan was to raid England, then swing down to Spain and from there my land army would slowly raid northwards through France and England until they reached the Baltic Sea. Meanwhile my ship fleet would continue on into the Mediterranean and plunder the masses of fishing ships. However, I was beginning to worry about my 1500 gold goal so I decided to skip raiding England for now as I believed that there were more profitable raiding opportunities in France/Spain in comparison to England which was mainly food resources.

I slowly begin to move my 3 teams of 2 huscarls up Iberia, aided by the plague which weakens the local garrisons so they are more hesitant to attack my own units. Meanwhile I decide to rest my fleet rather than sail into the Mediterranean, which I fear may result in their demise. It doesn't go exactly to plan, with my fleet losing all but one trireme at Spanish hands while on the mainland 2 plague weakened Huscarls die to the Spaniards. An Apostolic Palace vote saves my army and fleet by resolving a peace between Spain and myself in 1320 AD. I use this opportunity to heal my plague ridden units and then send galleys to England and North Africa where my huscarls have been sent after being pushed out of Spain's borders. I then send them into French territory.



Unfortunately the southern raiding party is intercepted and sunk while in the North only limited success is met on the French/German border as French knights destroy my huscarls. However it is now 1420 AD and I have over 1500 Gold. I then realise I really need to get back into the technology game to catch up and overtake my rivals so I can get a settler over to the New World. Only now I realise I should have kept researching for a while longer, as I have extra money and time before my deadline. I decide to build a new city, Sundsvall in an attempt to boost my research. My greatest fear is the Dutch, who come ready to settle the New World on their spawn date of 1500.



In 1455 I noticed a French army marching through Russia. I was uneasy. France had refused to sign a peace treaty and I was worried this army would reach me before France agreed to peace. With a very small army I decided to try get Russia to declare war to distract the army. It would cost 1455 gold, so I decided instead to move all my troops to the new city of Sundsvall and began construction of a wall there. The army eventually marched back south but the French navy gave me trouble in the Baltic Sea for a while longer until peace later on.

Eventually 1500 AD rolled by and I was feeling hopeful. I planned to buy Gunpowder from my good friends the Germans after I achieved the first goal of 1500 gold. The dutch would still be a problem but I was hoping they would just... overlook the New World.

Anyway so I checked the victory conditions aaaaand....
...
5000 Gold you say??

Ah well I had a good time never the less. Next time I suspect I need to start hoarding gold earlier. The only problem is that I also need to have a good tech lead to get the first settlement in the New World. If I try again I'd focus more on money early on and then use that money to buy techs I need as well as perhaps use a Great Scientist.


EDIT: Ah my pretteh pictures aren't working D: Also, interesting that iOnlySignIn also did Vikings Must say his playstyle is a lot smarter, I never really thought to go around conquering. Well played sir, obviously I have much to learn

 

[Leoreth]

Great games, both of you. It's very interesting to see so different approaches.

@Jellly: you play a lot like me, especially when I don't know a civ already I hope you get your links working, some pictures to look at would be nice. And I think you can't get around popping GMs as Vikings.

@iOnlySignIn: wow, I wouldn't manage such a game on Monarch. Now I know balancing to make it hard for you is a futile attempt But I guess Epic also makes it easier for the Vikings because there's more time to conquer and pillage. But I never would've considered bulbing CS with a GM instead of getting more gold, for example.

In general, it's curious both of you decided to play Vikings, of all civs. And I'm a little disappointed none of you tried to settle America with Galleys. Also, your AAR gave me the idea to consider an early Privateer equivalent for them as a second UU if I ever get around to do that. It would be both historical and useful.

 

[Jellly]

Great games, both of you. It's very interesting to see so different approaches.

@Jellly: you play a lot like me, especially when I don't know a civ already I hope you get your links working, some pictures to look at would be nice. And I think you can't get around popping GMs as Vikings.

@iOnlySignIn: wow, I wouldn't manage such a game on Monarch. Now I know balancing to make it hard for you is a futile attempt But I guess Epic also makes it easier for the Vikings because there's more time to conquer and pillage. But I never would've considered bulbing CS with a GM instead of getting more gold, for example.

In general, it's curious both of you decided to play Vikings, of all civs. And I'm a little disappointed none of you tried to settle America with Galleys. Also, your AAR gave me the idea to consider an early Privateer equivalent for them as a second UU if I ever get around to do that. It would be both historical and useful.

You can settle America with galleys??? I swear I checked multiple times to see if the way was opened but I always remember an ocean tile separating the tile. Now I'll have to open the game up again to check and I'll probably end up playing another game

EDIT: In my Dutch game (below) in 1600 their is still no way to go from the Old World to the New World through the Atlantic due to Ocean tiles. Maybe I'm mistaken though, after all you did design the mod - you should know!

 

[Jellly]

Normal Difficulty
Normal Speed
600AD Start

Right, here we go again! Another civ I'd played before previously in which I failed the UHV. This time I made sure to double check the UHV's before I made my plan

In my last attempt it was relatively easy to acquire 7 spices, the Dutch start gives them 2 settlers and there are at least 3 or 4 spices in the Caribbean/South American Dutch Regions. The others can be acquired in the Dutch East Indies, as I believe in one of the updates when you get a Trading Company in the Capital you can seize those cities.

Second goal - first to settle Australia. Again relatively easy, not many civs go after it and those that do only do so quite late on in terms of oversea colonisation.

The last and most difficult goal I had last time was 3 settled Great Merchants. Last time I didn't pay enough attention to this one till it was too late.

Right! So started off by switching the civics to Resettlement and State Church. State church would be important I believed with the 50% GP increase. I began to research Economics as well. Hopefully I would be the first to reach it and so snatch another GM.

I loaded my ships up with workers, settlers and musketmen and set forth for North America. My plan for settling was to set up a colony in North America and from there use that to settle the Caribbean and South America. Usually I found the AI settles in this order: North America/ Central America, South America, Africa, Australia/ Asia. I planned to stay one step ahead of the AI but in similar order/ possibly skipping Africa. Meanwhile my caravels would scout out the area to find good settling locations for these future towns.



I use the 2 starting settlers to settle Roodt Eyelandt on the east coast of America and Jost van Dyke in the Caribbean. I was considering settling 2 cities in North America but I noted that the Spanish already had a presence in Cuba and Mexico and did not want to risk them settling the remaining Caribbean islands that control the spice.



In 1560 AD I had my first Great Merchant spawn due to the Scientist specialist I had set up in Amsterdam since the first few turns. In the same turn I finish a settler who I put on a ship alongside a missionary I had lying around from the initial few turns. I send this down to South America along with some workers from Roodt Leylandt to create the town of Adriaansz Fort, giving me 3 spice in total within my borders.

At the turn of the century, another Great Merchant spawned and was settled in Amsterdam - and the next one was only 10 turns away! I can't believe I didn't get this goal last time In addition I was using the caravels to scout out my future Dutch East Indies and was dissapointed to find it was sparsely populated and with few spice resource tiles within cultural borders. I wasn't sure how the rules worked for seizing colonies with the update but I was pretty sure the cities needed to be there in the first place. I sent my caravels to the Middle East and India in a hope to buy some spices from them in case the Dutch East Indies plan didn't work out.



I'll update/finish tomorrow. Sleep beckons. Seems like I'm on my way to a easy win. The only things which could become a problem if is Germany or Spain were to declare war as they both are Catholic while I am Protestant. Spain could cause troubles at sea with their naval presence while Germany is a large threat just at my doorstep.

The Dutch East Indies plan might not work either, depending on if the natives settle the islands or how seizing colonies works. If it doesn't work as hoped I can always send over my own settlers - it only takes 4 turns to produce one in Amsterdam.

EDIT: Back to it!

Around 1640 I finished Economics and soon after a Great Engineer spawned in Roodt Eyelandt. I shipp him over to the mainland where he met up with the Great Merchant I was about to settle in the city. I then used the Great Engineer to rush the trading company. I still wasn't sure if the natives had colonised all the cities I wanted and it turned out they hadn't:



No matter, they already had control of 1 spice and I would only need to settle 2 cities to grab the remaining 3 in the East Indies to secure my grand total of 7. Fortunately I had planned for this possibility and had 2 ships with settlers, workers, missionaries and musketmen ready to colonise which they then proceeded to do. While on the way there I began building another set of units and ship to set sail for Australia and complete one of my UHV goals.

FAST FORWARD

... to 1721, when my final Great Merchant spawned. I had a bit of a hitch when a Great Engineer spawned instead of a GM, but Amsterdam produces Great People at a ridiculous rate so all was well. Meanwhile, settlers and workers have been ferried back and forth across the globe to start hooking up the spices and to settle the Northern coast of Australia.



Not soon after my worker teams finished upgrading the spice tiles aaaand:



Saywhaaaat?



1, 2, 3, 4...



5, 6...



?? I count 7 in total, but it only says 4? I'm thinking I must have overlooked something :S

Some tips/things I noticed/did:

- The Indonesians did not colonise all the islands, even though they had at least 3 settlers and 10+ galleys at one point. If they had settled and I had seized with the trading company I would have gotten the goal A LOT quicker as all I would need would be maybe upgrade one or two spices and then plop a settler in Australia.
- I sustained my economy by exploring and then selling maps as well as purchasing an extensive land map from sweden and then selling it to everyone else. Not that it really mattered, if I had to I could have lowered my science to balance the economy. Technology wasn't really a problem in this game, the only critical tech is Economics.
- I could have gotten this UHV earlier but in my typical playstyle I forgot about the other UHV's while chasing others and didn't start upgrading spices until roughly 1710.
- Colonising America was a good move for springboarding other colonies as I didn't really develop it much and instead just cut down all the forests. Basically I exploited and took advantage of the open land I knew that eventually it would flip to America anyway so I did not have to put much effort into it and instead just spam workers and settlers.
- Upon completing the 2nd UHV, Mali and Iran both declared war on me. Not sure if this is a coincidence or coded in, nice touch though.
- In the 'newsfeed' (blue box showing news in the world), they are called "Iran". But in the diplomacy screen and on the scores list they are called the "Caliphate of Persia". Also, when I looked at them in Worldbuilder their units have conflicting flag colours/ cultural border colours. See the screenshot below:



Anyway I really enjoyed this game, I even went on to play up until the 2000's.



Overall I'd say the Dutch aren't that hard, the main key is to rush to Economics and then Trading Company and from there to send out settlers and workers to grab the spices.

 

[Leoreth]

You can settle America with galleys??? I swear I checked multiple times to see if the way was opened but I always remember an ocean tile separating the tile. Now I'll have to open the game up again to check and I'll probably end up playing another game

EDIT: In my Dutch game (below) in 1600 their is still no way to go from the Old World to the New World through the Atlantic due to Ocean tiles. Maybe I'm mistaken though, after all you did design the mod - you should know!

Hint: you can enter Ocean tiles that you culturally control

Interesting Dutch game. Apparently the possibility of conquerors made them a lot easier ...

 

[Fresol]

Chinese UHV:

(Monarch, Normal, 3000BC, finished at turn 247, 1260AD)

1) Settle Luoyang (2E1S) as capital;
2) ???
3) Victory!

Tech path till Gunpower: Animal Husbandry->Writing->Bronze Working->(popped Mysticism)->Alphabet->(traded for Masonry, Polytheism, Fishing, The Wheel, Hunting, Priesthood, Pottery, Sailing)->(Oracle gives Metal Casting)->Mathematics->(traded for Monarchy)->(bulbed Aesthetics)->(traded for Iron Working)->Calendar->(traded for Horseback Riding)->Construction->(bulbed Compass)->Monotheism->Theology->Literature->Currency->Meditation->Code of Laws->Music->Paper->Feudalism->Machinery->Printing Press->Engineering->Guilds->Banking->Civil Service->Gunpowder

Early Writing and Taixues in Hangzhou and Qufu provide research and the two great scientists later, while early Bronze Working makes sure the 7-food Luoyang (theoretically, but Qufu shares 2 of them) gets enough production power to keep the empire running till economy catches up (which is quite a while later). Theology gives 4 production to each city, and with Printing Press the Shrines will help economy. But before that, build crucial Wonders under the Pantheon civic: The Oracle, The Hanging Gardens in Luoyang, The Great Lighthouse in Haojing, The Great Cothon in Dagou (which is 1S of Taibei, I have no idea why the name), and any other classic wonders we can afford in Luoyang the powerhouse. Then it's a race to build enough cities and temples and Cathedrals. Build 2 Cathedrals first and leave the last 2 to Luoyang and some other production city. Build Pyongyang after Korea spawn (build and flip and raze Hancheng first to get rid of the Koreans), and build Guangdao and grow to 2 pop before the Japanese spawns (so you flip and declare war on them and take the empty city and they'are gone, except the 2 swordsmen and 2 archers and maybe your flipping unit which took the city, which you can easily kill with your Chokonus fresh out of the Colosseum from Luoyang). Build Jianghu right afterwards and we are in time for the first UHV.

For 4 Golden Ages, limit city growth at a certain point (when you have built the basic infrastructures) and maximize on Great People. Not a problem. The only bad thing about sacrificing Great People for Golden Age is that you don't get GA left to colonize Lisbon when Portugal spawns, and London. It wouldn't be a problem if game ends after UHV but I'm a bit concerned about them building Trading Companies, and plus, those are great cites, water tiles+ lots of food= less stability penalty+really good cities.

Unfortunately UHV is bugged, it said "4 golden ages 'by' 1800AD", but it's really not! I definitely won't wait till then, I claim victory right now.

I see Leoreth has expanded the Chinese stability map a bit, good job there!

I also noticed the "after entering Classical age you get a free granary in each city you build" benefit is gone.

Another bug: ALL of my cities' cultural border stop at 3rd ring, NONE expand at 500 culture, although I acquired Monarchy from Persia even before the my first city grow to 500 culture. In SVN version this only happens to my capital (Luoyang), and is (IIRC) resolved by acquiring Monarchy early enough. Well it kind of helps stability, but it's definitely bugged.

Some pictures as thumbnails, since Leoreth said he couldn't see the pictures I linked, maybe others can't see them either.

p.s. Is there a way to take screenshots and save them (semi-)automatically?

edit: Victory screen posted thanks to SVN update.

 

[Leoreth]

Unfortunately UHV is bugged, it said "4 golden ages 'by' 1800AD", but it's really not! I definitely won't wait till then, I claim victory right now.

Okay, will look at that.

I see Leoreth has expanded the Chinese stability map a bit, good job there!

Yeah, I hope it helped.

Another bug: ALL of my cities' cultural border stop at 3rd ring, NONE expand at 500 culture, although I acquired Monarchy from Persia even before the my first city grow to 500 culture. In SVN version this only happens to my capital (Luoyang), and is (IIRC) resolved by acquiring Monarchy early enough. Well it kind of helps stability, but it's definitely bugged.

Already noted.

Some pictures as thumbnails, since Leoreth said he couldn't see the pictures I linked, maybe others can't see them either.

Thanks. Your tech rate is quite fast still, apparently China needs further adjustments (probably more in later eras than in earlier eras).

p.s. Is there a way to take screenshots and save them (semi-)automatically?

What exactly do you want to do automatically? If you use the "print" key, you can avoid specifying a file name, but that's it.

 

[Fresol]

What exactly do you want to do automatically? If you use the "print" key, you can avoid specifying a file name, but that's it.

Where are they stored? That's just what I need. I suppose alt+print does that autosave too?

Thanks. Your tech rate is quite fast still, apparently China needs further adjustments (probably more in later eras than in earlier eras).

I really hope you don't nerf China too much (unless you'll fix the late game foreign stability issue, that'll be fair).

 

[Leoreth]

I guess it depends on the system. It's My Games/Beyond the Sword/Screenshots for me.

 

[strijder20]

No screenshots, sadly enough. Don't have access to them on this computer.

I recently achieved the English UHV (and the Indian, but I already posted that one in the strategy thread). The start of the game was quite normal, with the Spanish conquering Aarhus being the only thing out of place. I got Optics at 1200 AD thanks to some tech trading and incidentally met the Aztecs before the conqueror event triggered. Then 100 uneventful years of teching towards Liberalism and meeting the Eastern Asians passed. At 1300 AD, my caravel which was standing by for over 50 years met the Incans.

Needless to say, the conqueror event triggered, and I rolled over them. I made a big mistake, however : instead of conquering their last and fourth city, Cuzco, I made peace. I didn't realise you had to conquer OR found 4 cities in every continent, and thought just acquiring 4 of them by any means would get you the UHV. Apparently not.

I got Liberalism as first, and obviously took Astro. I settled the obvious spots in the Americas : the one near Nouvelle Orleans which has amazing production, and the city in the middle at the border of the United S. and Canada which has amazing food. I also settled Seattle and a city in the desert to get some resources and to get four of them.

Then Spain decided it should do something with the Conquistadors it couldn't use to slaughter Aztecs and Incans with, and turned on their neighbours, the French. They showed true blitzkrieg for an AI: Two cities fell in one turn, and Paris in merely two turns after the war declaration! Le poor French collapsed and Cherbourg, in the North of France, flipped to me a few turns later.

I started settling Australia too, while the Dutch were quite happy with settling the Eastern coast of America, empty of English settlements.

Isabella, pious as she is, turned on her protestant brothers - I got PP at about 1400 AD - the Dutch and took their capital. The exiled government of Willem in Leyden (near New Amsterdam) collapsed a few turns after. Bye, colonial contestant! It would only take 100 years for Amsterdam to flip to me.

With Parliamentarism, FM and Representation in the pocket, expansion won't cost you money anymore - cities started with 25 free commerce from trade routes . My tech rate slowed down, however.

At 1600 AD, I completed the Trading Company and teched Corporation. I have no clue which one of the two triggers the Trading Company armies - but it's probably the former. So I got some cannons and muskets spawned in the middle of Mughal territory, next to their quite impressive stack of Bombard Ellies and Cuirassiers. Those, however, went for an independent city with one archer in it, allowing me to conquer some port cities. Only three of them, however, so again not enough for the UHV.

I was a little bit too slow with colony founding, apparently, but after some rush-buying of settlers in the already founded colonies I got my first UHV condition. After that, I gave the most useless colonies away or independence.
With a large gold output (1000 a turn, IIRC) I easily managed to rush-buy my second victory condition. I had some trouble finding out which tech was Modern Era, as I teched all the way to Industrialism only to discover that that was an Industrial tech (Nomen est omen, I know).

In 1790 AD, a congress wanted me to give that nice city in Louisiania in which I built the TM (I know ) to Spain. I refused (blasted Spaniards! Bullying all little countries in Europe and now this!) and war was declared. No cities were captured, though, and I got the second and the third VCs a few turns later.

 

[Fresol]

Greek UHV:

(Monarch, Normal, 3000BC, finished at turn 149, roughly 150AD due to lack of Calendar)

Settle on Korinthos (marble plain hill) for capital. Unload the warrior and settler from the galley immediately and transport all troops to attack Egypt. The settler should walk to found Byzantion. In my case, the Egyptians only had archers and warriors and a single city, so I was able to take it and controlled Egypt. Had one hoplite and a chariot (flipped barbarian unit) left. I sent the chariot to harass the Babylonians and let the hoplite guard the city.

Tech path: Marsonry->Priesthood->Alphabet->(Oracle gives Metal Casting)->(trade for Agriculture, Archery, Animal Husbandry, Mathematics, Iron Working)-> Aesthetics->Literature->Drama->Meditation->(trade for Monotheism and Horseback Riding)->Philosophy

After acquiring Egypt, I built some infrastructures in Byzantion and Diospolis Megale (former Niwt-Rst), and pumped hoplites from Korinthos which had barracks. I built one more galley and were getting ready to attack the newly spawned Phoenicians. But then the Persians spawned out of nowhere and even Yerushalayim fell to them, in just 1 turn. The new thing of version 1.8 I guess. And the never seen before independent city founded in Angora (!), and Babylonian city Kalhu (!), alongside with Susa (this one is routine) flipped to Persia. Luckily Persia was at peace with me and we even signed open border. So I attacked the Phoenicians from Yerushalayim and they were destroyed after I sacked Sur. But then the founding of Carthage brought them back, and I signed peace treaty with them, fearing their Triremes and Biremes. They later collapsed anyway, so acquiring Sur alone is enough to control Phoenicia.

Then I pumped more hoplites from Korinthos, took the independent city of Babylon (they collapsed quickly after the Persian spawn) and declared war on Persia. I got Yerushalayim and Susa, and I razed Kalhu. But then I was afraid I would be too late to build the Wonders so I cut military production, the troops left weren't able to sack Parsa so I went for Pura instead. Upon acquiring Pura I signed peace treaty with Persia, knowing I couldn't hold the city if he attacked. By then I finished the third historical goal: Control Egypt Phoenicia, Babylonia and Persia in 330 BC. Persia was unstable but alive. I didn't touch their Angora.

Then I finished the wonders and got the second historical goal. Essentially it's done. The only thing I feared was the mandate army of Rome. But when Caesar declared war on me, his army... got lost. Check the thumbnails. After a little harassment he agreed for peace. Then I just teched for Philosophy and played sloppily here and there. Then it's UHV!

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I am midway through my China game.
Just posting progress and some thoughts.

Difficulty: Monarch
Speed: Normal

Followed pretty much almost the same tech path Fresol did. Except I can't wrap my head around how Fresol was able to get Shrines when I'm barely struggling to generate enough GPs here. Currently where I'm at right now, I'm holding out for 1 more GP for my 3rd Golden Age and crossing my fingers that it's not a Great Scientist or a Great Engineer. I barely snatched the 1st UHV by the skin of my teeth (got it right on the turn) and the 2nd UHV was no different (got Gunpowder the turn/turn before Mughals spawned). Perhaps my skill level isn't up to snuff, but the new China game really seems like it leaves no room for error. Was racing India for Liberalism and seeing how they had Philosophy and I only had Education, I did everything I could to destabilize them (Spies, Civics, aiding their enemies) because they were getting way too close (around early 1200s). Thankfully, the Mughals crushed them so that was out of the way.

Rushed Corea with a bulk of Chariots. Burned down Seoul and settled Pyongyang.
Rushed Japan with a bulk of Cho-Ko-Nus. Burned down Kyouto and settled Akita + Matsuyama.
Took the Mongols head on with a stack of Elephants & some support Cho-Ko-Nus and vassalized them sometime after.
I'm low Shaky right now (-8 to -4) about around 1445.
Currently, I have adventurers plundering the New World, and I hope I can get Aztecs to vassalize to me. I'm sending more Caravels with missionaries in the hopes that I can get Astronomy as well, because teching is very hard right now and the Euros are on par on several respects with me. I don't even have Civil Service right now.

Also, once I got the 2/3 Triumphal Arch Golden Age, it didn't appear on my Victory Screen.
It was 1/4. I was panicking but I decided to see it through and after the Golden Age ended, it appeared as 2/4.
As soon as I generate a Great Prophet, which I've put all my cities on x4 Priests, I'll initiate the 3rd Golden Age, attempt to beeline Nationalism and then rush the Olympic Park. If I recall correctly, the Taj Mahal needs some sort of religion and I only have Confucianism + Taoism in my cities.

I think I'll be alright for the rest of the way but I am probably not going to continue playing past Historical Victory. I don't think I'll survive to Fascism and get my communist war machine started in time. I agree with Fresol in that before, it was prudent to rush Portugal and England to stop Trading Company shenanigans but it doesn't appear possible now.

 

[Fresol]

To Tomorrow's Dawn:

I didn't get "shrines" either, it was just the All Saints' Church of Protestantism. I used the only Great Prophet to create Golden Age. And for Great Persons, I got many Great Merchants that I settled 2 of them in Luoyang. Maybe it was because with markets grocers and maybe banks cities will assign more merchants than scientists. And while you were fighting Korea and Japan head on I just used the exploits to crush them on spawn. And for Mongolia I just built exactly 10 war elephants promoted with formation, as they would just send in exactly 10 keshiks and 2 crossbowmen and 2 siege weapons. And about India, it was very interesting that I decided to squatt Varanasi at the beginning of the game, simply because one could! Just send your first warrior direct to that place and fortify forever. I think that crippled the Indians a bit. In that game they never posed any threat, except that one time they declared war on me and cut all my trade routes and gem, cow, ivory supply.

Nvm I did get two shrines, in the picture I was at the end of my second Golden Age and was ready for a third. You can see I'm waiting to change my civics to Republic+State Church right after 1 turn. My stability is crippled by the abuse of religion and (later) civics, and the flip and razing.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Fighting Corea & Japan did not take long at all.
I waited for them to move most of their troops out of the capital
and attack on the same turn.

 

[iOnlySignIn]

To Tomorrow's Dawn:

squatt Varanasi

ROFL that is brilliant. I also like your end game Civics selection for China. It's exactly the same as mine.

TD, why did you raze Hancheng? That spot is great. Rich food, good resources. And Kyoto too, for that matter. It's on a VERY good spot, with 4~5 food resources in its cross. Sun Tzu said: "In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good."

I'm a little disappointed none of you tried to settle America with Galleys.

Actually, I tried. But then I realized that I need 150 Culture (on Epic, I think it's 100 on Normal) in Reykjavík to do that, and decided that it's more profitable to just directly tech towards Astronomy, since I need Privateers anyway.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

By the way, I saw what Leoreth did with the Samurai & Crossbowmen spawn.
While I understand it's there for gameplay, it is HIGHLY anachronistic.
The first samurai came about around 700 AD, and at this point, they were pretty much mounted archers (so Horse Archers would be more appropriate)
The "samurai" that we think of conventionally, would come into existence much later.

Also, I razed Seoul because I wanted to try out Pyongyang.
The canal is nice but I could go either way.
Kyouto was a different circumstance; I didn't want to risk the troop leaking that occurs when you occupy their capital on spawn, and I couldn't have taken down those Samurai on the next turn when they would inevitably move back in.

Also, Mongols are really bugged.
They start out with no techs for some reason.

In retrospect, I should have resettled Kyouto & settled Shenyang on the mainland.