Diplo victory in t183.
Summary
This was a very peaceful game in the true spirit of Swords into Plowshares, which I picked along with Pagodas.
I think Austria was simply unable to raise the money for CS marriages, even though there was a period mid-game when I might have struggled to prevent them. So, while I was prepared to switch to a "war economy", it seemed unnecessary since Austria never had more than 300 gold to their name. So, the only war I had was an early one against the Zulu, which I agreed to join to make Monty happy. The only skirmish was actually when a Zulu scout attacked an exploring atlatlist, who had recently captured a Zulu settler.
Early stages
I am still exploring Monarchy, after being a bullheaded Liberty player for a long time, so this would be an attempt at a tall civilization. There would eventually be 3 Mayan cities, reasonably well fed with caravans (while cargo ships sadly played a very small role) and all eligible for building observatories. Like
@raider980 (see opening spoiler), I got an early National College (turn 38), backed by Great Library, which in turn was backed by the 30% wonder discount afforded by the social policy Aristocracy and the pantheon Monument to the Gods. (Me like.) Even though this delayed settlers a lot, I don't consider it a mistake (
@raider980 ) because a settler would have delayed NC very much, and made it more expensive. Also, that would have forced us to build a library first in the second (and third) city rather than pyramid. In fact, the rather early NC, adding 15 bpt, was the one thing I was most pleased with. Could it have been even earlier? I usually pick all the first tier techs before moving on to Writing, simply because the decrease in turns to completion is likely to be more significant in a second tier tech as the game progresses.
Scouts would have explored the rough terrain faster than atlatists, but with no goody huts I could not be bothered with them. This was probably a mistake contributing to the fact that I managed no early worker steals at all - it took the captured Zulu settler mentioned above ages to reach the home area. At least one scout would have been better. But on the other hand, with what indeed seemed like raging barbs, that scout might have been killed quickly. Starting builds to the best of my recollection: atlatlist, pyramid, atlatlist, granary, atlatlist, worker, Great Library (free Philosophy, while studying Drama and Poetry), National College. The worker had a hard time getting things done, first with no protection at all and and only later with the starting warrior there to protect it.
The Long Calendar
Theology came in somewhere around turn 50 and the first free great person pick was a great scientist who built an academy. Before the end, all of the Great People were spawned except Great General. (I picked Great Admiral because Bratislava wanted me to.) The Great Engineer was very useful, hurrying Petra in Chichen Itza.
Social Policies
Monarchy, full branch, was first. After Theology I kind of bee-lined for Astronomy in order to unlock Rationalism as soon as possible, and in fact I didn't have to choose a crap policy while waiting for Rationalism. So full Rationalism was second, although interrupted once by Patronage opener so as not to risk missing Forbidden Palace. Then I completed the Patronage branch.
Ideology
Freedom. The effect of ideology was not huge, except to earn 2 delegates as it smoothly became the World Ideology before anyone else had an ideology at all. I chose Freedom mainly to have the Volunteer Army option available, should Austria suddenly begin to acquire city states, but I think all the ideologies are pretty weak when it comes to supporting a diplomatic victory.
End game
Later bee-lines were Scientific Theory, Plastics and Globalization. The vote came in favourably about 6 turns after Globalization. It is kind of simple to just buy the alliance of the last City States that aren't fans of yours already, so I was glad to ensure the support of La Venta by dispersing a barb camp with a cavalry just a couple of turns before the end. But of course, I made "assurance double sure" by bribing the rest of the CSs too.
Fun Fact
I created and enhanced a religion on the same turn, thanks to getting a prophet from the Long Calendar. (Apart from the Follower Beliefs already mentioned, I picked Interfaith Dialogue as founder's belief and Reliquary as follower belief.)
Reflection
Seeing in retrospect how even at the lowest point of happiness, the number never got below 0, I believe a fourth city should have been built, probably at the river mouth to the northwest of Palenque.
The Unique Unit
I found myself using atlatlists much more than I do normal archers, upgrading them very sparsely and not building any horsemen (just the one knight as the barbs got worse and the need for exploration of the huge eastern island became evident). This was surely a psychological effect unaffected by the fact that once built, they were no better than archers. But I also got the feeling that on this fairly low difficulty level, they were relatively strong vs barbs. On higher levels, barb horsemen can kill an archer outright, but here I believe they didn't even take the crucial 50 hp - and the barb spearmen definitely didn't. This was a rather big factor when setting up a rather extreme builder's game.
Wow, for the whole game I was seeing Austria instead of Portugal
I need to get my warmonger on and punish everyone who's been denouncing me for no reason.
