Unique, fun, stupid or cheesy strategies?

[chicorbeef]

Hey everybody, so I remember back in Vanilla Civ V, there were all sorts of weird, cool and fun strategies. There was the Sacred Sites culture victory (not possible so early now because of ideologies needed for a culture victory...), there were ICS Jesuit Education strats, there was the Polynesian terra strategy, and there was even the crazy strategy of settling like a madman to get unhappy, create rebels, and use Heathen Conversion to get the rebels onto your side and kill the world.

Obviously, most of these have disappeared due to smarter AI and better balance, there's more variety in basic playstyles, and that's a good thing, but I was wondering if people have tried unique things just for the fun of it. Has anyone tried a Polynesian Terra game with Vox Populi yet? That might actually work suprisingly well. Even if it's impossible to win an early culture victory, how does wide Sacred Sites/Byzantium hold up?

Maybe the Heathen Conversion belief has been eliminated, but maybe playing Huns, not giving two damns about the supply cap and using the barbs created from the unhappiness of your own empire would be fun to try out just for the sake of it.

Or maybe a version of the old Germany challenge, just this time, with the Huns.

Even if you're not into the cheesy strats, if anyone could share a strategy akin to the Globalist/Nationalist strategies on the forum, that would be more than welcome.

 

[tu_79]

You know that any claimed exploit is subject to be addressed in next release, don't you?

 

[Stalker0]

There is the England no science strat. Drop your initial spy on the tech leader. Make 0 science and let your tech steals keep you in the game while you focus on other aspects.

Eventually you have to catch up as spies weaken and illiteracy starts to hit but it might work.

There’s the super religious building strat. If your playing next to a strong religion like Spain...focus your religion on buildings. Get buildings in all your cities...then allow Spain to convert you and get all of your benefits.

There’s the unique border blob strat. You go expanse pantheon, tradition 2, authority 2, fielty 4, Ankur wat. You focus on mad border growth and all of the benefits from said growth as your main economy driver.

 

[chicorbeef]

You know that any claimed exploit is subject to be addressed in next release, don't you?

I was more talking in line with things Stalker0 said, maybe I went a bit overboard with the cheesy strat examples. It doesn't have to be AI exploitative. I don't think Polynesian Terra is exploitative, for example.

There’s the unique border blob strat. You go expanse pantheon, tradition 2, authority 2, fielty 4, Ankur wat. You focus on mad border growth and all of the benefits from said growth as your main economy driver.

I have heard about the border blob strat but never went to that extent. Have people succeeded at this? Also, wouldn't it be better to finish Authority for the double tribute bonus?

 

[Noob Fanboy]

Normally, people do that with Russia. You get a lot of early - mid game advantage, but you have to know how to use it. Because any of the early game trees scale better in late game.

 

[Moi Magnus]

Incas on montain heavy maps are quite fun

Also, the 3rd/4th UC modmod for VP is quite fun too if you are looking into "fun strategies not yet fully balanced"

 

[Noob Fanboy]

Well, you can have fun with a heavy forest map with iroquois. Go with renewal, get longhouses early game and never build one farm in the rest of the game.

 

[Stalker0]

I have heard about the border blob strat but never went to that extent. Have people succeeded at this? Also, wouldn't it be better to finish Authority for the double tribute bonus?

Well you need at least 2 more policies in tradition or authority anyway before you can get fealty, so probably best to go authority. It might be worth going full authority while hoarding your Great Merchants. Than once you get burghers crank out the WLTKDs and start reaping the bonuses.

 

[Viralvoid]

Try a warmongering Venice and conquer the world.

 

[chicorbeef]

Incas on montain heavy maps are quite fun

Also, the 3rd/4th UC modmod for VP is quite fun too if you are looking into "fun strategies not yet fully balanced"

People seem to be working hard to balance it, but I'm curious, how is the yieldcreep on that? It's not fun when everything is buffed, I don't want it to feel like VP before the yield reductions.

 

[Hinin]

People seem to be working hard to balance it, but I'm curious, how is the yieldcreep on that? It's not fun when everything is buffed, I don't want it to feel like VP before the yield reductions.

The rythm of balances has slowed down a bit these last few weeks, simply because we think that having more people giving their opinion on the matter is crucial before engaging ourselves in major changes.

However, and to answer to your question, it surprised me, as one of the testers, to discover that the modmod didn't prevent the rise to the top of civilization without bonus in the early game (in my last game, Korea became dangerous, and crushed Babylon, a civ with 4 unique component in the ancient and classical eras, even before the Medieval era), and that runaway civs were still quite rare : of course, it doesn't mean that the modmod doesn't have influence on the balance of power, nor that it is in a balanced state (as I said, we are waiting for a full release, and the reviews it will bring, before engaging ourselves in the necessary tweaks), nor that it is bug-free (the bugs are rare, but still present on some specific civilizations).

In any cases, if you want to test the modmod, I advise you to wait for the next version release on civfanatics, but you can also go on github to download the current "test" version (you'll have to build the solution of the mod manually however, using civ5 modbuddy), if you follow this link : https://github.com/adaneslavo/More-Unique-Components-for-VP.

 

[pineappledan]

I'd love to hear some cheesy strategies people have found with the 3UC/4UC project so far. Maybe in the development thread though

 

[chicorbeef]

Here's a cool strategy I found.

Pick Zulu. Go Authority. Focus on expanding/founding a religion so you can get Orders/Zealotry. Then beeline Chivalry for Alhambra. Grab any techs you may need, like Education, then go straight to Gunpowder for Impis. Faith buy an army of Impi and promote them to Drill III/Blitz. Congratulations, you have now won the game via Domination victory.

 

[Noob Fanboy]

Here's a cool strategy I found.

Pick Zulu. Go Authority. Focus on expanding/founding a religion so you can get Orders/Zealotry. Then beeline Chivalry for Alhambra. Grab any techs you may need, like Education, then go straight to Gunpowder for Impis. Faith buy an army of Impi and promote them to Drill III/Blitz. Congratulations, you have now won the game via Domination victory.

You can do something like that with Byzantium if you have orders / zealotry and then you beeline Chivalry

 

[pineappledan]

You can do something like that with Byzantium if you have orders / zealotry and then you beeline Chivalry

Sounds like the better civ to do it with too.

• More faith, and earlier,
• cataphracts are a bigger power spike than Impis
• no risk of having the tenets sniped
• Don't have to improve religion
• The time it takes to wreck the enemy army is time spent researching physics, putting trebuchets into the field at the peak of their power spike, and before most cities prioritize castles

The one advantage this strategy has with zulu is that cannons are out on the same tech as impi, and there isn't a commensurate boost in city defense for another tech level

 

[ElliotS]

Sounds like the better civ to do it with too.

• More faith, and earlier,
• cataphracts are a bigger power spike than Impis
• no risk of having the tenets sniped
• Don't have to improve religion
• The time it takes to wreck the enemy army is time spent researching physics, putting trebuchets into the field at the peak of their power spike, and before most cities prioritize castles

The one advantage this strategy has with zulu is that cannons are out on the same tech as impi, and there isn't a commensurate boost in city defense for another tech level

The other advantage is that the zulu need less XP for promotions, meaning you can have super-promoted units. I think the Zulu power-spike is great and clear.

 

[KaoticKanine]

I just attempted the "Faith Zulu" strategy and sadly it hasn't worked out ^_^; lol I managed to found and then enhance a religion and get the necessary beliefs before anyone else, but I was unable to generate enough Faith to buy a huge army of Impis by the time I got them. Even if that stupid third Great Prophet didn't sneak up on me and pretty much reset my Faith count, I would only be able to faith purchase two or three Impis with the then max Faith of 1700. Although I don't think it's the strategy being inherently flawed so much as I had the misfortune of being neighbors with India, who of course got a religion first, spread it around like butter on bread, and settled tons of cities to both generate Faith and add to the religion's follower count (which I SHOULD'VE retaliated with by taking them, but I foolishly wanted to save that for the Impis)

 

[chicorbeef]

I just attempted the "Faith Zulu" strategy and sadly it hasn't worked out ^_^; lol I managed to found and then enhance a religion and get the necessary beliefs before anyone else, but I was unable to generate enough Faith to buy a huge army of Impis by the time I got them. Even if that stupid third Great Prophet didn't sneak up on me and pretty much reset my Faith count, I would only be able to faith purchase two or three Impis with the then max Faith of 1700. Although I don't think it's the strategy being inherently flawed so much as I had the misfortune of being neighbors with India, who of course got a religion first, spread it around like butter on bread, and settled tons of cities to both generate Faith and add to the religion's follower count (which I SHOULD'VE retaliated with by taking them, but I foolishly wanted to save that for the Impis)

The point of this strategy is mostly the promotions, so even building them can work, it's just faster with Faith purchases. You can get an army up twice as fast, but I didn't mean that you had to insta-buy them all immediately. Edit: When I look at the wording I used I can see where I implied that, sorry about that.

Usually you can get to like 100+ faith per turn with a good build, which is a healthy amount to purchase Impis relatively regularly.

Even if faith-buying doesn't work out, just try building them the old fashioned way, it'll be a little slower but it should work out fine in the end. The Orders are more important since they allow Blitz out the gate.

 

[Noob Fanboy]

The other advantage is that the zulu need less XP for promotions, meaning you can have super-promoted units. I think the Zulu power-spike is great and clear.

Yeah, but the problem is Gunpowder, a technology you're going to research first if you want to go full domination. Byzantium can do the same with Chilvary, take some cities, make 1 - 2 vassals. And then win peacefully with the Overpowered religion (You need order and zealotry, but you still have another two picks, like +production and +science, or +science, synagogue)

 

[chicorbeef]

Yeah, but the problem is Gunpowder, a technology you're going to research first if you want to go full domination. Byzantium can do the same with Chilvary, take some cities, make 1 - 2 vassals. And then win peacefully with the Overpowered religion (You need order and zealotry, but you still have another two picks, like +production and +science, or +science, synagogue)

They're two different strategies. The Zulu one leverages Orders to make super promoted units (only they can get 3 promos with Ikanda+Armory+Order, which gets them to Blitz with Alhambra), only they can do that. The Byzantines can't do that, and they'd have difficulty grabbing Alhambra and Armories in the Medieval Era anyway, but they do have points such as the ones pineappledan mentioned.

Also, while I haven't tried Byzantines yet, I'm pretty sure Blitz Impi > Cataphracts. Just saying .