Ultimate War Deity Challenge #2 - Zulu

[Johan^^]

So a short update.

Went Acoustics first, finished Oracle and shortly afterwards got my own policy, meaning secularism turn 116 at which point i broke 200 science The next turn i pop my first GS, so far so good.

Choose to delay Obs a bit in favour of metal casting for the workshops. Need a bit more produktion.

Been making a bit more military, since Portugal keeps many units at the border. Still 6 % behind germany, but that should chance shortly with the newly science progress of the great nation of Zulu.

 

[Justice1337]

That start looks god-like. I've been wanting to try a Civil Service first approach to Education for a while now, and I haven't played Zulu much, so here's a shot for both. I am thinking Shrine-less, Granary first opening, maybe Liberty.

I just looked up Impi's and Ikanda, and they seem awesome for a tech-stalled Deity game:

- +1 Movement, seems awesome even for those Lancer upgrades
- +25% against gunpowder units? (one source says this, but I can't confirm)
- Defense against ranged, yes please.



Looking at the spoilers. Is there are reason people don't seem to like coastal cities?

 

[Cromagnus]

I think my favorite thing about Zulu is that Landsknecht get all the Ikanda bonuses. Unfortunately, the promotion is applied after spawn, so they only get 2 moves on their first turn. But still, Landsknecht with 3 moves are win. If Zulu got impi instead of landsknecht... now that would be REALLY broken...

 

[Justice1337]

I think my favorite thing about Zulu is that Landsknecht get all the Ikanda bonuses. Unfortunately, the promotion is applied after spawn, so they only get 2 moves on their first turn. But still, Landsknecht with 3 moves are win. If Zulu got impi instead of landsknecht... now that would be REALLY broken...

Hmm, seems like a mix of both would do well. A few Impi for open-field combat, two or three Landsknecht for city assault via pillaging. Three movement, no cost to pillage seems nice. Pillage - repair is still broken, right?

Another thing with that policy is that I believe you can continue to buy Landskenchts after normal Pikes have been obsoleted. That would mean a lot more mileage out of the Ikanda, since the promotions only go to pre-gunpowder melee.

 

[Cromagnus]

Hmm, seems like a mix of both would do well. A few Impi for open-field combat, two or three Landsknecht for city assault via pillaging. Three movement, no cost to pillage seems nice. Pillage - repair is still broken, right?

Another thing with that policy is that I believe you can continue to buy Landskenchts after normal Pikes have been obsoleted. That would mean a lot more mileage out of the Ikanda, since the promotions only go to pre-gunpowder melee.

Bingo! It keeps your UA valuable far longer and with 3-move pillaging and all the bonuses, your landsknecht are practically berserkers. Unfortunately, Landsknecht don't promote to gunpowder units.

Agreed, a mixture is nice. The funny thing is, I'd rather have Impi than a Rifleman. It's a shame they have to upgrade. Of course, if you're playing very well, you won't ever get Rifling.

 

[Johan^^]

Pictures tell the story.

300 science at turn 136, GS at turn 138 and 1 more policy at turn 139, not sure what to choose, so will leave it here and play on another day.

 

[Justice1337]

Bingo! It keeps your UA valuable far longer and with 3-move pillaging and all the bonuses, your landsknecht are practically berserkers. Unfortunately, Landsknecht don't promote to gunpowder units.

Agreed, a mixture is nice. The funny thing is, I'd rather have Impi than a Rifleman. It's a shame they have to upgrade. Of course, if you're playing very well, you won't ever get Rifling.

Don't the melee's keep their unique promotions on upgrade? So what you would do is buy a Landskent, then upgrade it to a Lancer/Anti-Tank Gun/Helicopter Gunship and keep the movement/pillage/etc bonuses, right?

Also, I'm noticing now that Impi upgrades to Rifleman, and I guess that's better for that era than being stuck with Lancers waiting to upgrade to the boring Anti-Tank guns. You pretty much don't need Cavalry at all in that era with 3 movement Rifles and 5 movement Lancers.

And about not getting to Rifling, is this map Pangea? I haven't started it yet.

 

[Johan^^]

Hi, does anyone know if Obs gives +1 gold from Soveriegnty as well as lib/uni/pub/lab ?

I am failing to generate enough gold in order to rush buy all my science Buildings, Thus thinking about picking Soveriegnty to fix that problem, not sure if its worth it or not.

 

[kb27787]

Whew that was painful...
I basically played a vanilla-flavored civ with no obvious bonuses, going for peaceful CV

Not to mention two big culture runaways and all the world religions taken one turn before I finished Hagia Sophia (don't you just hate it when that happens...)

Start had good food early but struggled mid to late game due to the overabundance of hills...

Spoiler :

although I'll admit the religion Theodora gave me was pretty nice... divine inspiration especially...

Spoiler :

Tech was OK, although I felt I lacked food, and consequently, hammers to build all the stuff in my cap... (dipped into chemistry here just to get +1 from mines and then fertilizer then I'm going to continue to hotels) By not expanding towards Mt Kilimanjaro, my plan was complete: I have brought the border of three nations close together (and hence I can easily redirect any possible hostilities... otherwise Maria the Mad would just constantly DoW me due to lack of other neighbors)

Spoiler :

Late game things started going seriously wrong... (Shoshone and Aztecs eliminated) and the cultural runaways started running away fast... hence the slow victory time... Here you see me frantically building those spaceship parts in case I need to bail out.

Spoiler :

I did not have enough diplomats (and did not want to risk political capitol) to vote down ISS, and Bismarck who won it came VERY close to launching. Thank goodness I beat him to great firewall.

Spoiler :

All in all, overcoming not one, but two cultural runaways with 55k culture each at t300 using a civ with no obvious tourism/culture/tech bonuses means I can probably win CV with any civ (as long as I don't get wiped out by warmongers)

 

[Laurwin]

That start looks god-like. I've been wanting to try a Civil Service first approach to Education for a while now, and I haven't played Zulu much, so here's a shot for both. I am thinking Shrine-less, Granary first opening, maybe Liberty.

I just looked up Impi's and Ikanda, and they seem awesome for a tech-stalled Deity game:

- +1 Movement, seems awesome even for those Lancer upgrades
- +25% against gunpowder units? (one source says this, but I can't confirm)
- Defense against ranged, yes please.



Looking at the spoilers. Is there are reason people don't seem to like coastal cities?

Impi upgrade straight into rifleman. I wondered about the same thing until I checked civilopedia, what if impis upgraded to lancers but they don't. They go straight impi -->rifleman

 

[Justice1337]

Played my first 100 turns last night.

Spoiler :

Not hoping to set any records with this one. My early Beaker caravans to Portugal were plundered due to stupidity on Portugal's part, I got hosed on several Barb clearing quests, and I opened Liberty without a Culture hut. I do have great city sites, but I've got Happiness and Gold issues. Pocatello picking a garbage religion doesn't help that.

My only consolation is that the Coastal city I founded to the East with Copper, double Iron, double Fish, and multiple Hills is a total powerhouse with 2 Food ITR's. When it gets the Forge up, it will probably be enough to fill the map with Impis on its own. Probably should have gone 3-cities Trad pre NC with that city and Kilimanjaro.

 

[Johan^^]

So the game has turned into a race between me and germany. He is "ahead" in science, but my science is rolling and i got the right techs Additionally he is doing well in the cultural game and since i am not sure how fast he could win cultural vic, i might have to take his super powerfull Capital at some point.

Basically game is won atm and the Victory conditions can be dom/science/diplo. Fastest would probably be xcom etc dom Victory followed by science vic.