I had to slow down my tourism (set up great works to avoid tourism bonuses) and deliberately time my push into the information era to AVOID cultural / diplomatic victories before getting the mandatory science victory, since that was the requirement in the beginning. I perhaps overdid the wonders, which might've slowed down my science victory by a few turns. I probably should've just done straight research after a certain point (maybe winning the World's Fair). In the end, I had built (I think in order) the Great Library, Temple of Artemis, Hanging Gardens, Petra, Oracle, Chichen Itza, Borobudur, Hagia Sophia, Sistine Chapel, Colossus, Parthenon, Alhambra, Leaning Tower, Globe Theatre, Porcelain Tower, Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Forbidden Palace, Broadway, Cristo Redentor, Brandenburg, Hubble, Sydney Opera House.
I also had so much money and nothing to spend it on. Any additional units would've cut into my production in Babylon by 10%. I had every city-state by a lot. I had 4 nuclear missiles in subs just ready to launch wherever I felt like it at the end but I was just ready to finish the game so I never used them.
- Did you use your UU?
Hm, I used my bowman to gain some mid-game influence from Bogota by clearing barbs on his border. But this had almost no effect on the game overall. I could've upgraded him to a composite bow much earlier.
- How useful was your UA?
In the end I spawned I think 15 great scientists: 1 from writing, 4 from wonders, 3 from faith, and 7 "naturally". Obviously the one from writing was the most important, that's the one that lets Babylon take off from the early game.
- Did you use spying to your advantage?
I used it to rig a few city-states in the end, but it was only to add to my already insurmountable lead in city-state influence. I also killed a few spies but my level 3 spy in Babylon was surprisingly ineffective at catching enemy spies. In the end, I had nothing else to do with my culture so I completed Piety and took Underground Sects just so that my spies could be useful and spread my religion to the few remaining cities that weren't already Catholic.
- Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
It hindered, but only because of my own stupidity. For some reason I got the idea that it was Pangaea. I started with two scouts for that reason. Later on, those two scouts died to barbs, so I rush-bought another one thinking I still had to find the other 3 civs. It turns out my first two scouts had already scouted 90% of the continent and that third scout was mostly a waste.
- How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I went for more wonders than I usually go for. (I've been playing Deity lately but intend to go back down to Immortal because I find Deity games boring.)
- Was Faith helpful to achieve victory? How? Did you build any faith wonders?
I'm quite certain that I could've achieved victory even if I took dance of the aurora (completely useless) as my first pantheon and never founded a religion, but the three faith-bought scientists certainly sped up my victory. I was also earning 124 gpt from tithes, as there were 40 Catholic cities, 1 Taoist holy city, 1 Protestant holy city, and 1 without a religion. I had +91 faith per turn. My faith wonders were Borobudur, Hagia Sophia, and Grand Temple.
- What Social Policies did you choose and in what order? Which Ideology did you choose?
Completed Tradition, opened Commerce with the Oracle, completed Rationalism, took Freedom up to New Deal (along with Avant Garde and Civil Society, obviously don't need Space Procurements until later), Commerce up to Mercantilism, Patronage up to Scholasticism, completed Exploration (this was during the World's Fair so I had so much culture I decided to go for archaeologists and hidden antiquity sites), Freedom up to Space Procurements (still didn't need it yet but whatever), completed Aesthetics, completed Piety (Underground Sects for my Reformation belief), Patronage up to Merchant Confederacy. Yeah, I had a lot of culture.
- What techs did you prioritize ?
Obviously the science ones. I beelined currency (for Petra), philosophy (national college), education (university), acoustics (to open rationalism), astronomy (observatory), printing press (Leaning Tower), scientific theory (public school), radio (ideology), plastics (research lab), penicillin (medical lab), atomic theory (+2 science for academies), satellites (Hubble), ecology (Sydney Opera House, because I had an extra engineer sitting around), advanced ballistics, particle physics, nanotech.
- How many academies did you build?
Five. I saved the rest for my late-game tech push. I maybe built too many academies, but I think it was still the early Renaissance when I already had my fifth.
- but who cares?
