The Great++ Playthrough

[Araneya]

After the last playthrough finished, I was asked to up the difficulty. Not sure how this will go.

This time we’re playing with Very High Advantage for the AI, about double the amount of bonuses that High Advantage would give. Common Calamities and no Ambition victory should make things interesting as well. Changing up the map type and size as well this time, playing on a Medium Lakes and Gulfs, and low Resource Density.

I decided to go for Rome this time since I’ve played most other families in the last two playthroughs, leaving Champions, Statesmen, Patrons and Clerics unplayed.

Luckily the first start I roll looks good for Rome.

The Settler is on hex (47, 46) which is slightly to the northeast of the 74x74 size map. Landowners would be good for this location but to not repeat families I go for Statesmen instead. We won’t be able to make use the Decree bonus from Constitution, but hopefully it shouldn’t matter much in the long run. As for archetype, I go for the Builder with the aim of getting an economy online as soon as possible.

We end up with a Cunning ruler, so maybe an early Estates could be interesting for the extra 2 orders. A Barbarian camp very close to us and our starting Warrior has a useful promotion to start clearing it next turn.

The Judge ends up becoming the Oligarch and we start building the Barley farm.

We get Labor Force from the Ruins and immediately enact Freedom. The scout continues west, finding another wheat which is harvested.

On turn 4 the barbarian camp is cleared.

Because I’d like to boost the Capital a bit more I start a Hamlet that will grab another wheat when done.

The settler moves east instead towards the free city site.

Next turn we explore the western ruins and get a courtier.

The Statesmen offers the Oligarch for marriage, which we accept. We also found our Champions seat and reveal more of our surroundings.

On turn 7 we get a choice of ambitions and I decide to produce 500 iron.

We explore the southern ruins and gain some gold and experience over 30 culture in Roma. The starting warrior is healed and we start on another farm.

We finally meet someone else, this time it’s the Vandals to the west. I declare war for the legitimacy and send my warrior west.

There’s another Vandal camp closer to us so I send the Warrior there to start attacking them.

I’m tempted to start Forestry already but with the nice capital I decide to go for Drama instead.

On turn 10 we meet Aksum who is to our northeast and a Hero.

I quickly settle the cleared site with the last family, Patrons, to hopefully make some use of the Pearls to the north and opening up the option to build Estates soon.

 

[Araneya]

We continue the game by setting up trade with Aksum instead of becoming Affable. It might be overly careful but I really don’t want to risk an early war.

After clearing the camp we barely hold, but we don’t attack on turn 12 so that next turn the warrior can counterattack at 1 hp.

To improve logistics, the capital worker adds urban tiles around the lake.

But we also want to get some shrines up, connect to those pearls, and get our iron production going.

A general and a governor is assigned, the scout makes a few moves and the Champion worker starts a salt mine.

A lack of orders makes these turns fly by quite fast. We spend some money in an event to make the Champion Oligarch endeared.

The settler is moved and we start a mine.

The Patrons Oligarch wants to sell hair dye but I disappoint him and gain 2 discipline instead. Theranda is founded for the Champions, bringing them to friendly opinion and opening up faster production of War Elephants in the longer term.

Next turn the western Vandal camp is being attacked by someone and we manage to force march and buy extra orders to grab the site. However, we don’t meet another nation.

We meet Carthage and use our charms to set up more trade. Aksum continues to grab the wonders. The opposing archetype as religion head makes me want to hold off on spreading Paganism.

Another event comes where being Charming helps us keep good relations. Carthage already has Composite Bow. We need to get more orders and science while keeping up good relations. Aristocracy is the next choice of technology.

We continue with some exploring, seems like Carthage has a city to the east of the mountain pass west of Roman lands, but there is still a lot of forest between us. Otherwise it’s only worker moves this turn.

Our caravan arrives in Aksum and we improve our relations a bit, but not enough for them not to be upset. More exploring and worker moves. I decide to queue up another scout in the capital to send south.

There is probably a Vandal camp to the northeast across the water. An event gives us some extra courage at the cost of a discipline.

There are two cities from Carthage in the region!

Ideally the two ambitions would be finished before the current leader passes.

There’s a third Carthaginian city!

We continue exploring south and get another ambition.

Even though Border Boost is tempting, I decide to research Trapping.

We meet the Scythians and assassinate the Matriarch for legitimacy. The Caravan arrives in Carthage and we finish our first ambition.

The Scythians kill my Militia and the Heir becomes an Orator instead of Schemer. My hope is to improve internal relations for extra orders and use the orders to improve the economy.

 

[Groo the One]

To be continued?

 

[Araneya]

I've been travelling and focusing on the Old World Community Tournament, so I haven't found much time for this game recently. But here are the next 10 turns!

We get some Scythian raiders and another courtier.

With a lot of training spent we save the new Scout. Meanwhile, the workers build Odeons.

Next turn we send another Caravan towards Aksum, kill a Scythian raider and find one of their city sites to the south.

I decide to research Administration next to faster get around to Military Drill.

Our daughter weds a Patron character instead of a Vandal one, increasing the family opinion. The Scythians continue pillaging while we continue building urban improvements.

We find some more Scythian city sites and the northern one had Aksum spears attacking it last we saw. The ruler becomes the Good.

Unfortunately the southern way is blocked by water. Seems like Exploration or ships are needed to meet Greece and Assyria.

After dealing with one raid we get another. To get access to some more urban specialists I decide to research Military Drill.

The way south is completely blocked by mountains or water. We secure peace with Carthage. Hopefully we will at some time be able to expand east and then it would be nice to have our back clear.

The Aksum hero leader finally dies and that improves our relations with them. Internally we continue dealing with raiders.

Carthage already have Land Consolidation and Hydraulics. Fortunately our spam of Warriors and Slingers have made us move from Much Weaker to Weaker against both Carthage and Aksum.

Aksum starts to move south with a Settler. Meanwhile the Roman lands are developed with Granaries and Urban buildings. Between Navigation and Rhetoric I decide to go for the cheaper option to faster boost our exploration and also get us closer to Sovereignty.

Right now there's no clear plan of victory. Meeting the rest of the nations is a priority and improving the science rate to not fall behind even further. After we get access to some better military options, different paths of aggression could be considered.