Hi, long time lurker. This is my first serious attempt at a GotM as I usually don't finish my games and/or play multiplayer. I did several practice games, none of which I played past turn 170 or so. Probably should have stuck out at least one or two to see how many policies I could realistically squeeze in by the end, and practice the endgame, but oh well
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- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I want insane growth to fuel my science, and allow me to work guilds ASAP. I also plan to wonder whore as much as possible to help with culture and acquiring policies. Oracle will be huge, as will many others.
- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
After scouting two tiles west with the Warrior, I was surprised to discover coast. I decided to take it as I planned on a Tradition strategy and feeding my cities with trade routes anyway.
Build order: Monument, Archer, Worker, Settler, Archer, Settler, Settler, Shrine, Granny, Library, couple turns in Oracle, NC.
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
After my first practice game it hit me that I should try opening Honor and farming barbs, since I was building archers to fend them off anyway. I'm not sure if it's worth it long-term, but early on each barb kill is almost a full turn's worth of culture production, and I wanted to make use of the raging barbs somehow.
No ruins + movement bonus on hills = no scouts and monument first. Archer immediately after monument to start farming culture from barbs.
Because I chose the slower initial starting location in favor of Cargo Ships later, I wasn't able to get out as many Archers and Warriors as I had practiced.
- What were your initial priorities?
Open Tradition ASAP with monument-first build. Get out Archer(s) and open Honor just in time for barbs to start appearing. Settlers + claim land ASAP. Finish Tradition.
- What tech path did you follow and why?
Archery -> get Archer out immediately after monument.
Animal Husbandry -> hoping for horses on my empty plains/grassland tiles for some production. Won't have worker steals early enough on Emp to need Mining just yet.
Mining -> I hardbuild a worker after Archer, and I want to start chopping for my Settlers + getting luxes online.
Masonry -> Need quarries for happiness + production.
Trapping -> Truffles @ my first expand. Should have gone Pottery here, had to delay Granny 4 turns @ first expand. Put 4 turns into a worker instead.
Pottery -> Granny first @ expands #1 and #2. Shrine then Granny @ cap after 3rd settler.
Writing -> Libraries after Grannies in cap + expands #1 and #2. Library first @ expand #3.
Calendar -> omw to Philosophy.
Philosophy -> NC + Oracle after Libraries.
Sailing -> Cargo Ships + Pearls in expands while cap builds NC.
The Wheel -> omw to Construction.
Construction -> Terrace Farms.
Drama and Poetry -> Standard path to Theology and Medieval. Also has National Epic, Ampitheaters, Writer's Guild. Will want these ASAP.
Theology -> Medieval, possible faith wonders.
- What was your plan for using piety and exploration?
I don't plan to use them much at all, really. I'm just going to fill them out by the end to meet the requirements of this challenge. I'll likely take some fillers in Piety before I can open Rati, so I'll delay shrines + temples in my expos until I get the reduced build time and perhaps extra faith.
- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
I haven't had time to grab any wonders just yet. I will grab Oracle immediately after NC, and we'll see from there. I did put some turns into it while I was waiting on my last library. Parthenon is certainly an option, as is Hagia for a quicker enhance. Alhambra is another I will target after Unis and Obs' for the increased culture output.
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
No. I delayed faith much more than I'm used to playing deity and multiplayer, as it seems possible to do so on Emperor while still grabbing desirable pantheons and religion bonuses. Since I'm not getting a reformation belief in a timely manner with my Tradition play, and I'll have so much growth and production from terrace farms anyway, Jesuit Education won't really be a thing.
I was able to easily get Tears of the Gods with a late shrine (discovering two pearls made that a simple choice). I will start building more shrines + temples after I open Piety, and hopefully grab Mosques + Pagodas to fuel social policy acquisition and the purchasing of GEs for key wonders later.
- Any surprises?
The coastal start was a big surprise which I didn't practice for at all. Work boats + Cargo Ships + Triremes to protect myself, farm culture, and explore have become a thing.
In my practice games I was able to get many workers from barbs. Unfortunately with no nearby CS in this game I had to hard-build almost all of my workers, and also wasn't able to gain any easy Allies. Early on I tried to grab an Indian settler from a barb camp NW of Tiwanku but it ended up getting taken by India from the other side, which I couldn't see (unseen units clearing my camps is something I learned to be careful about in my practice games!). I DoWed to grab it anyway, and lost a 3 science trade route in the process. Not sure if that was worth it, but I know Gandhi is very forgiving so I did it anyway.
The barb camp that spawned SE of Ollantaytambo was a very welcome surprise and is well-protected from being cleared by other civs. Easy culture farm there. I had briefly considered settling 1 tile further east to grab the extra GBR tile, and perhaps take One with Nature. However, doing so would have cost me the sheep and cattle tiles to the west, and cleared this camp upon settling.
It was really tempting to take the tile SW of the mountain in the north with all the Citrus, other resources, and eventually Sugar, as well as another coastal expand somewhere NE of Machu, but I decided to stick with 4-city Tradition and not get
too greedy.
I just derped and lost an Archer to a Spearman at the camp I was farming north of Machu, and since I don't really want to build any more Archers atm I cleared it with the Warrior. My NC seems super late but growth is ready to explode.
