This game is a crash course in Things Not To Do, but that will become obvious... later.
I settled Kyoto on the Gold on the hill, as you can see. I kind of wish I had settled on the Silver because 3 Fish (and Oil later, which I never got around to improving), but then I would have had too few workable tiles.
Early build order was 2 Scouts, a Shrine, a Granary, and two Settlers. I can't really remember what I had Kyoto do after that.
I moved my Warrior north and found the first Ruins of my game. I don't recall getting all that many Ruins in this game (maybe 3 at best? I know I got +1 pop from one.), but this Ruins turned out to be the most vital of all: 20 Culture. I put this into early Tradition because I'm the turtling to Science/Culture Victory sort, so odds are I'm not going to get more than four cities. As it turns out, I was right, but more on that later.
The next Ruins revealed Sofia for me. I'd rather have proc'd something else, like a tech, but I knew I found one of my targets for a Worker steal. I learned that tactic thanks to lurking here and try to use it even on the lower levels, even if waiting for a CS to hammer a Worker out takes a while. It frees up what would otherwise be a crowded build order for a little warmongering penalty that fades later, so I love the tactic.
I met Songhai on T8, the Inca and Zurich on T22, Venice T31, Assyria T32, the Huns on T43, and Ethiopia/Persia way later. My notes don't have that and I totally forgot to write it down when I did, but it was a lot later. I'd estimate ~T90 or later for both.
Stole Workers from Sofia and Zurich by T34. The resting point for my influence with Sofia was -20 for the whole game, which kind of sucks since I like Militaristic CS allies for the free troops, but I made do. Nobody in the game appreciated my early "warmongering" (I prefer to think of it as "Worker redistribution"), but whatever. I sent these Workers to Kyoto and Osaka, and built a third one later for Tokyo.
On that note, founded Osaka T38 and Tokyo T47. Tokyo isn't shown, which I think was an error on my part. Unlike many of you guys, I was too meek to do some of the more aggressive settling I've seen in these posts. kb27787's Kyoto stands out in my mind as an extremely aggressive tactic. Me, I'm just too peaceful and too afraid to be overly aggressive. Still, I knew war was inevitable, so my new priorities were obvious: One, cobble something resembling a defense force together before Songhai decides to invade, and two, prepare for the NC.
I wish I had known about the mountain by Venice WAY earlier. That would have been an amazing spot. I sent both Scouts west because I'm silly and did not think there was much land to the southeast of Zurich/Kabul. Of my many mistakes, I feel this was one of the bigger ones; it'd have made me take Optics earlier so I could send a Settler over there.
I got a Pantheon at T42, took Religious Idols because of all the Gold/Silver this spot gives you. I also got a religion, but I managed to do approximately nothing with it because my faith generation was absolutely terrible. I didn't even buy Missionaries because I was not sure I'd get enough faith for the late game Great People I buy. I can normally get something like 40-50 FPT, which is enough to meet my needs, but I got nowhere near that this game. It was a constant 10-15 a turn, and that just isn't going to get the job done.
I noticed Songhai had two Warriors and two Archers positioned ominously, so I sent them on a little trip to the Inca. It only cost me 3 GPT and my Silver, which was AWESOME. If there's anything I love about Immortal, it's the ease of getting AI to declare wars on each other. The 4 Happiness wasn't needed at the time, so whatever. I can't get the AI to declare war all that often for the life of me on lower difficulties. I know it's *possible*, but they aren't as receptive and it costs more.
Became friends with Venice on T54 and denounced the Huns T69. Venice denounced them first I believe, but I waited until other civs were doing it, then I bandwagoned harder than the average Miami Heat fan and got dat diplo modifier. This resulted in Friendly almost across the board. For the most part, I maintained those Friendlies throughout the game, even when Ideology became important.
Built the Temple of Artemis on T84 while waiting around for Tokyo to build its Library. OMG FIRST IMMORTAL WONDER!!!112! I had nothing better to do in Kyoto. With all the overlap between workable tiles, the 10% bonus was appreciated, though I don't know how tangible of an effect it had on my game. Ah well. I bought Osaka's Library because its production is abysmal and built the NC on T93.
Songhai looked like it wanted to declare war again, so I bribed them to fight against Ethiopia for 2 GPT and my Silver. Whatever, still didn't need it. I don't know if they actually *did* anything, but I know most AIs don't like war on more than one front even if they could easily do so (if it were smarter, Songhai would have realized I'm a lovely target), so whatever.
Education T119 because I'm so zetta slow. I detoured for Construction because Composite Bowmen/slight Happiness problems and grabbed Sailing when it reached one turn, but other than that I went straight for Education. Started on my Universities since I had no money to buy any. Kyoto got its Uni up T125, Tokyo T130, and let's not speak of the slowpokes in Osaka. (I put my Ironworks in Osaka because the build times were unbearable otherwise.)
I got a religion at some point. Beliefs were Religious Idols/Tithe/Religious Community/Swords Into Plowshares/Religious Texts. I just put this here because it's about where it was in my notes, but yeah, didn't spread this to my cities as I should have done. Just terrible. I regret not naming it "Sharknado", in honor of Sharknado 2 tonight. That is going to be my next religion though.
Venice entered the Renaissance first, on T139. That's never happened to me before. It felt like a "Welcome to Immortal you big n00b" moment. I kept my spy in Kyoto because I was only one tech behind the leader. Maybe I could have went to steal but I thought, "what's the use?" On the tech note, for much of this game, everyone was within two techs of each other. I found this kind of sad, considering I don't think I played an exceptional game by any means.
And now it's time for this game's big mistake. THE mistake, the one that affected my endgame to an insane extent. I decided around T150 that it mite b cool to go Culture. Ha. Ha. Ha. That's a good one. What I neglected to do was check out the Culture Victory landscape. Ethiopia had all the Tourism ever, and Venice was the game's wonder whore/the Culture runaway, thus ensuring I'd have a rough go of it. I think I had 2 Tourism at this point, but I was thinking, "hey, maybe I can beeline The Internet and catch up, as opposed to having to go through much of the tech tree for Science." That did not even come CLOSE to happening.
At least I got control of the World Congress on T157 after discovering Printing Press? I proposed Arts Funding, which the AI loves and which helps my attempt at a Culture win.
Persia was eliminated by the Huns on T174. Whatever, they weren't a part of the cool kids' group anyway, aka Japan/Venice/Inca/Assyria. I got Pisa on T181, took the Engineer, and built the Uffizi. In retrospect I'd still like the Engie but I'd probably have built something else. Not Porcelain Tower because that took Osaka ten turns and nobody ever takes Rationalism. Idk what, though, because I can't think of a relevant Wonder from the era that wasn't taken.
Askia decides that right after I research Scientific Theory (~T185) is a good time to declare war because he apparently hates further education, sake, sushi, anime, and all that is good, so he rolls up and declares war on T187. I see 16(!) troops on-screen, as compared to my tiny defense force of ~10 troops. All of these are Crossbowmen at this point, luckily.
I've never seen the amount of troops he threw at me during this war. I got two Great Generals out of it, so I assume it was a lot. I'd estimate that overall, I killed 30+ before he was willing to talk peace. Even then the "What would you like for this?" button said "Tokyo". Not happening, you couldn't even take that on 0 life. It's not like I intentionally targeted his melee troops or anything, just so he couldn't take it...
The end of this war got kind of tense; I thought I would lose Tokyo/possibly the game. It turned out to be a white peace on T207, at which point I got back to the pressing business of building Public Schools. It probably helped I bribed Assyria into declaring war against him a few turns before. Next screenie is right after the war.
WELL, LOOK WHO WANTS TO BE FRIENDS NEXT TURN! Oh Askia, you're lucky that I am a forgiving sucker. Even so, I had reasons for accepting this. If he backstabbed, it would result in a negative diplo modifier, and most of the world liked me. I could probably send my friends after him for very cheap. If he didn't, it would be 50+ turns of much needed peace. As it turned out, he was a loyal friend for much of the game, only going to Guarded late.
I tried to win the World's Fair but lost by ~100 hammers to Ethiopia on T231. This is one of those "hindsight is 20/20" things, but I should have just accepted the free social policy and saved the hammers. Wound up taking Cultural Centers with the free policy and Flourishing of the Arts next turn.
Suddenly, Songhai denouncements. I'd have considered it when our DoF ended, but he's my neighbor and since I play peacefully most games, I need a relationship good enough to deter war. On that note, I look up and see my bribed war was a great success for my Assyrian bros, since they took one of Songhai's cities.
Saw a 10(!) Aluminum tile in my territory on T232 after discovering Electricity. Not important in the least, but I've never seen it before. Is this only possible on Immortal/Deity?
The first Ideology goes to the Huns at T245. Gee, I wonder what they'll take! If you guessed Autocracy, you get a cookie. Chocolate chip. I backed into Freedom because Modern Era on T249, the Inca follow up with Order on T254. Ethiopia also takes Order and the Ideological pressure causes Attila to switch to Order. Good job, good effort. I had some Unhappiness issues too, but the lowest was -6 I believe, so I kept repping Freedom.
Ethiopia has a lot of influence over everyone and seems to be at peace, so I bribed Attila into declaring war on them. 3 GPT and 5 Aluminum for someone who was Hostile to me is ridiculously cheap. After this point, he turned to Friendly, but it was a fake friendly; my Diplomat revealed two sneak attacks he was going to launch on me. (I bribed him into going to war with other civs, the silly goose.)
I bribed my fellow civs to go to war for much of the second half of the game. I didn't want them looking at my lands and my small defense force and seeing me as a good target. Luckily they liked me and would declare war for next to nothing at all. It was often <5 GPT and a resource. At this point, I spent my time building vital infrastructure - Factories, Hospitals, Research Labs, etc.
International Games pass T301 and predictably I lose to Assyria. Idk how they managed to win this despite being at war with Songhai but whatever. I also lost the Statue of Liberty to Venice, argh! If I were playing Science I'd have ignored the project altogether.
I realize around T330 (after I researched The Internet - I'd place that around T315-320? Really, REALLY slow.) that I'll probably have to go through the tech tree anyway and switch gears. I build the Apollo Project in Osaka on T353, research Satellites on T356, and save a GE for the Hubble in my capital. The other slowpokes in the game start getting their Apollo Projects around T375, but by this point I have two parts. In other news, Songhai is taken out of the game on T360.
Spent my lousy 2k faith on a Great Artist for a Golden Age and a Great Engineer for a Wonder. I would have gotten a Scientist instead of the Engineer, but I never completed Rationalism. *hangs head in shame* Interestingly enough, the GE *fails* to get me the CN Tower, so I get a ton of fail gold. Not even mad, I used that money to buy the SS Engine.
The biggest effect my Culture "attempt" had on my endgame was not being able to complete Rationalism. I would have had 3 more policies had I taken Space Procurements as my first level 3 tenet, thus I would have finished Rationalism. I estimate it would have saved me at least 20 turns.
At T389 I have 5 parts. It's simple at this point: If I make it to Nanotechnology first, I win. I buy the SS Stasis Chamber and launch the next turn. If someone pulls a ship out of their posterior, I lose.
I got a #based Great Scientist sometime around T385-390 and saved it for 8 turns away from Nanotechnology. I don't remember, but that guy was so clutch. By the time I popped him, Pachacuti had three parts, Attila had three as well, and Venice had its first part. Nobody else had any parts. I thought for a little bit that Pachacuti or Attila would build every part in the space of a few turns and beat me by a turn or something.
But no, that didn't happen. I launch T404 for my first Immortal win!
This was not my finest hour, but I somehow won. My thought process was basically, "I won't have to go through the tech tree if I go for Culture, which means my low Science output won't be such an issue." Except, I had two culture runaways and a wonder whore, so that didn't work. If I had went Science, I wouldn't have had to worry so much about what other civs are doing and I could have focused on Science from the get-go. I'm not going to pretend I'd have approached any of your times (I'm not that good, I don't put effort into micromanagement, etc), but I'd have had a better win time for sure.
Fluphen Azine said:
I just feel that we should not be allowed to push the game to turn 400 on Imm and still win although I did not create this game and if that is how they want it I guess that is how it is going to be.
Yeah, about that... *cough*
I totally agree. It's nice to get my first win on this difficulty level, but I played a bad game and yet I knew I would win from about T350 on because I kept the AI fighting each other for almost the entire second half of the game. I poured so much effort into something that did not work out (lol Culture) and my tech rate was pretty low throughout the game. I should have to put in some degree of optimization, which would imply knowing what I'll be doing, but NOPE. I changed my mind late-game and still won. I understand that this should be possible on lower difficulties, but not ones intended to be a challenge like Immortal.