[BNW] Warmonger Challenge Series - Game 1

[consentient]

I needed a relaxing break from my intense recording schedule (I'm a musician making my 3rd album) and after looking on Steam for a suitable game, I realised I probably can't find something that I can enjoy RELAXEDLY as much as Civ 5. So I figured it's time to edge my 7k hours ever closer to the 10k mark

As former host of other challenge series, I feel I've learned my lessons from those. I used to get too emotionally invested in whether other people played, and what they had to say about the game. Nowadays I'm just content to post maps and if other players join, then great, and we can compare the outcomes.

Personally, I will be happy to share as much information about my strategies as other players want. Perhaps some of it will be useful

-​

The purpose of THIS series is just to exclusively explore play centered on conflict. For every game in this series, the following will always be true:

1. The only VCs enabled will be Domination and Time. Therefore, if a player runs into issues that stop them from completing the game via a Dom sweep, there will still be the option to 'hang on in there' and end up with the highest score, with war always a looming possibility
2. The save files will be enhanced with 2 workers and 2 combat units, as well as the first 4 techs in the tree. This makes for more explosive starts, and more exciting play, without being TOO MUCH of a buff in the context of a long game
3. There will be a theme that - hopefully - enhances the story of the game a little more. Reason for this is that those among us who have played 1000s of games probably crave SOMETHING about each game making it a little unique. Some of these themes will be tongue-in-cheek or provocative, but will always (IMO) land on the side of good taste and fair game.
4. The maps will be made with Hellblazer's Map Pack, which you can find here.

With that introduction out of the way, I offer you:

Warmonger Challenge - Game 1 - 'Mansplaining'

In this game you will play as Shaka against all female opposition (Immortal, PANGAEA, Large, Standard Speed)

Spoiler Starting position :

 

[consentient]

T258 DomV

H-C-A
No religion
No self-built wonders except Big Ben
Wealth only from Public Schools onwards

Spoiler milestones :

T70ish finished Honor
T86 3-city NC
T110 Machinery
T123

Spoiler 1st capital :

Vienna

T145

Spoiler 2nd capital :

Lisbon

T162

Spoiler 3rd and 4th capitals :

Edinburgh and Carthage (previously conquered by Boudicca, who I extincted)

T199

Spoiler 5th capital :

Constantinople

T213

Spoiler 6th capital :

London

T230

Spoiler 7th capital :

Madrid

T245

Spoiler 8th capital :

Beijing

T258

Spoiler Last capital :

Moscow

Spoiler VC :

 

[ForkOfSpite]

I have an irrational dislike of "enhanced" maps and altered starts (no idea why - it's irrational), but I also want to learn some warmongering. So, I'm trying this game. Will summarize when I'm done, but 50 turns in ...

Spoiler :

Started with a monument because I thought the two spearmen would be enough for initial scouting. Followed the monument with three scouts (the first quickly became an archer) and then the granary. Several archers after that on my way to collective rule. Suffered a 20% production hit for a few turns until the collective rule settler could found (a bit west of capital). Prebuilt archer finished as a composite bow, settler (NW of cap near cerro de potosi), then pyramids. Working on another comp bow. Plan to work Cerro de Potosi after finishing a granary, but I think it's second ring and can't afford to buy it.

Tech Wheel and ancient ruined Masonry. After Wheel, went straight to Construction before going back for Calendar. Decided on Trapping (a couple of camp bonus resources) and working on Bronze Working now. Need gold, so I'm hoping I can sell some iron. Haven't been able to sell many horses to the AIs I've met.

Pointless DOW on a hostile CS to the south trying to get some xp. No worker steals, a couple of tile pillages, then got greedy with a third pillage - that comp bow died. Made peace and turning west towards China. Three comp bows now and two more in about 5 turns (plus an archer that I still can't afford to upgrade). Wu settled east of her capital near the CS I attacked, but I think I'll skip that expansion and just go for Beijing. Maybe Wu has some units I can work on for xp?

"Plan"

Spoiler :

Working on two comp bows, and I think I'll add one more from each city after that to complete the first army. One of the initial spears is with the bows that attacked the CS - hope that will be enough to serve as the capture unit. Might need to add a horseman later.

After finishing those comp bows, I'll work on libraries (ikandas if I don't have writing yet). Will use Liberty finisher to engineer the NC and then I'll tech towards impis. Ikandas should be ready for the second army wich will probably be whatever additional comp bows I get before civil service and then impis. Will certainly need to fit in some horsemen somewhere.

 

[dumpstertrash]

CONSENTIENT, you're the man. I've got 2 games to finish first but I'll love mansplaining as Shaka. I'm not the greatest warmonger, but your guides have helped me a lot throughout the years. I'll post my results soon!

 

[consentient]

Good luck to both of you. Let me know if I can be of any assistance

 

[raider980]

Looks like an awesome start! Even I should be able to do well in this one; Shaka, Immortal, awesome start, sweet.

 

[ForkOfSpite]

Turn 93 Update

Spoiler :

Needed gold and had no hope, so rather than attacking Wu immediately, I focused on barb camps. DOW Wu on Turn 71. Was about to retire because I was down to only 3 comp bows attacking a Strength 27 Beijing but captured on T93 - two turns after Wu built the Great Wall (already had spear and horse next to Beijing). Didn't pay close enough attention to blocking terrain, and didn't commit enough units even though I had some just sitting around my cities after Wu forward settled me during the war (kept that city because I was over my unit limit at that time).

Decided to hard build NC since it was quicker than waiting for Liberty and was struggling with unit cap. Finished Liberty on Turn 91 and took a GE. Plan on using it for Chichen Itza soon (~ T95), but I think a GS would have been a better choice.

 

[mbbcam]

I'm not sure my computer will stand a large map, but I might break the habit of a lifetime and try this.

 

[consentient]

Fork, I applaud your perseverance. Sometimes it's more important to sacrifice units and capture the cities (only in Civ, not IRL)

 

[Norlan]

Hello everyone, i've been lurking the forums when i return to Civ and bashing my head against some of the deity game posted here now and then. I'm busy with work got some unfinished games to finish when i got more time but decided to pick this one up to play in shorter sessions. Figured id give a shot to joining in on the fun and posting a report about it over here.

Spoiler Start :

I wanted to try doing Liberty into collective rule and then the exp bonus from honor into finishing libertry, due to how much nice land there was ended up doing something else.
I opened scout into shrine and monument, definitely should have built or bought another scout at some point, from the starting screenshot i was planning to take gem faith but there was no more gems i wanted to work and my culture started slowly so took pasture culture and it has been insane, concidering Boudicca is near by i've had the pantheon for way too long. Cap grew to pop 6 and was spitting settlers way faster than i could handel, think i 2 turned one with overflow from a chop, got greedy with the second settle and lost it for a couple turns, think the barb was on the one hex i missed radaring.

Spoiler Cities :

Here is how i settled, i ended up just opening honor after collective rule and planning on early guilds in Bulawayo with a plan to engineer machu picchu or petra so i can deal with gold and sending couple food trade routes to grow the cap and guild city. Ended up engineerig the petra and still hard building the other one, would have been fine getting the gold too if it missed.
I was planning to settle one more north west of the capital, but China was super mad at me for settling quick and close, she declared war on me with Austria, i was planning to send them a caravan and going for boudicca first. I was a little overconfident i had couple archers and an early impi from a ruin. kept killing chinas units but she didn't want peace at all, lost the impi trying to get kills so we could negotiate but nope, i had to reload from the turn they declared the war and play a little bit more carefully.
I brought couple more archers and a spear down instead, i had to abandon the plans about settling anymore cities, instead i burned down one of Chinas and she still didn't want anything to do with peace, don't think a Civ has every decline peace after they start losing cities maybe Ashurbanipal or Attila, but in cant even remember. So i ended up leveling up on the war front while developing towards crossbows, got worried China might go for the great wall so i tried to deny it from her, instead got one turned by Dido, oh well money for the army.

I was doing very well in science and cap has insane hammers so i decided to maka a detour for chivalry to build Alhambra, built both guilds in the guild city, this is how i decided to run them while building the national monument there

Spoiler Guild city :

I was struggling for gold before i got the markets up,so i only got the 2 range upgraded guys into crossbows and built a couple more. Oh yes, i had Maria show up on my border before i hit xbows. We had a declaration for friendship but she had been asking for open borders for a couple turns, she doesn't seem like the backstabbing type but i ended up paying her of to attack Austria just in case. i hit education on turn 123 and an artist a turn or two later accidents happen, popped it to build unis faster took Bejing on turn 130. Hoping i can take Vienna with this army and then ill go see if i can finally fight Boudicca, also thinking about building some shrines and temple as there is a mosques + pagodas religion around, but we will see abotu that.
Not playing many turns today, ill report back Tommorow or Saturday.

Spoiler Education :

Spoiler Bejing :

 

[consentient]

One quick thought after reading Norlan's post. On a Standard size Pangaea map, I aim for 3 Scouts. 4 or 5 for Large maps. The rewards are just exponential, more or less.

 

[Norlan]

Yeah on the tradition start i usually go double or triple scout into shrine and expands, i finnished the game this weekend but didn't take too many screenshots as it turned a little messy.

Spoiler whatAmess :

Headed down to fight Austria after taking Beijing, all went fine took Austria's cap at around 140maybe forgot to screenshot. Couple turns before its down England asks to go fight Russia i was planning to go for Boudicca instead as Russia was a huge empire with liberty and i was planning to push them and Portugal later maybe with artillery. All went well untill i was starting to approch Moscow, i caught Portugal spying my cap, told them to stop it as we had good relationships anyway, looked at the diplo screen at stacks of green and one small issue with the spy. Figured i was going to be fine, but no go and behold the turn after i finished Factories and pickedn an ideology Portugal decides to start pushing me, with my army way in Moscow i was completly F'd. Decided id try to defend it, had to peace out Russia and try to get all the way back, portugal managed to barely sack Dwakuduza before i got it under control.

I almost quit it here, as i mostly wanted to practice my patience with combat in this game, i tend too disorganized and impatient for multifront pushig and what not. Anyway ended up finishing as more of a tech game, i had been planning to engineer brandenburg and oxfording the artys but as it was building in the sackked city and it lost its uni too, that wasnt happening. I pushed Portugal and Boudicca with the Arillery, then made some silly bliz march infantry for spain england and russia., Finished way too late, but i feel like it was a cool setup after all, getting to build some stuff you usually only dream about. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[consentient]

Congrats! Glad you had fun. Let me know if you want any feedback or tips based on what you've shared

 

[ForkOfSpite]

T264 Domination Victory
Whew, finally finished. Not exactly sure what changed, but after watching some relatively recent let's play videos (mostly deity science turtles), I've definitely improved. About a year prior, I struggled with Immortal - Suleiman killed me three games in a row, and I just couldn't keep up. Now however, even though the only Dom V I've done was Stealth/Xcom, I managed to win starting with comp bows. Certainly made some mistakes, but the AI couldn't keep up with me. The most difficult part was trying to defend Lisbon from coastal attacks.

Lessons learned:
* Pay more attention to the attack approach and blocking terrain
* Bring more blocking units - six comp bows can't do much if they're being threatened (especially on the flank where only two can fend them off)
* Don't be afraid to annex bad cities - especially if your gold is good. At a minimum, you can avoid growth on them, and it's better to control their build (i.e., happiness barracks, armories, military academies)
* Check buildings before razing if working on Oxford (or Circus Maximus or any other National Wonder)

Questions Remaining (For Early War Strategy):
* What's a decent way to handle massive space between cities? Long roads are troublesome early, and AIs will settle over them
* Writer's Guild? Artist's Guild? The great people were good, but I built them mostly to speed up culture borders.
* Workshops? I ended up not building any for a long time (eventually I did, though)
* World Fair? What if you're the only one doing it (so it takes forever)?

On to the recap ...

Social Policies (in order)
* Liberty 6 (collective rule T30, finisher T91 - used to engineer Chichen Itza on T97)
* Commerce 6 (great writer to finish T188)
* Autocracy 8 (Militarism T218, Clausewitz T232, Lighting Warfare as eighth autocracy policy)
* Rationalism opener

Built / Engineered Wonders
* Pyramids
* Chichen Itza
* Brandenburg Gate
* Big Ben
* Prora

Very Early Game

Spoiler :

Went straight for construction - started T14 (ancient ruined masonry) and completed T33. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to upgrade many archers, and carelessly lost one comp bow to a City State. Went Liberty - Collective Rule T30 (settled T33). One more settler for a 3-city core (settled T44). Finished Pyramids in capital on T50 (same turn I lost the comp bow and ended the detrimental war against Zanzibar).

War Path

Spoiler :

China (T93)

Spoiler :

Initial army was 5 comp bows and a spear. DOW on T71 which seems very late given that I've already had Construction for almost 40 turns. Some reinforcements captured an extra Wu expansion (Guangzhou) forward settled on me during the war. Captured Beijing on T93 and made peace. Later, I DOW again to capture Shanghai because Wu was settling over my planned road connection. At some point, Wu was eliminated (probably Dido but maybe Theodora), and on the last turn of the game, I brought her back to life because I could.

Celts (T136)

Spoiler :

After China, I decide to continue with comp bows and start working on Russia. Only have 4 comp bows and a horse, but two more comp bows on the way. DOW Catherine on T104. Meanwhile, my second army (4 comp bows, 2 catapults, 4 impi) head east towards the Celts - can liberate some city states. Theodora asks me to join her against Boudicca on T108 - army already on the way, so I accept. End up being friends with Theodora for pretty much the entire game.

I finish Education (and open Commerce) on T112, so I start universities (postponing my plan to send some impis to help against Russia). I peace Catherine on T121 since I just couldn't make progress -plan to come back with xbows later. Machinery on T124, and again, I just can't afford to upgrade. I only upgrade my two best comp bows and settle with just that - leave the rest around my cities to handle random barbarians. War against Boudicca is better, but I need to "recklessly" rush in to keep Dido from capturing Edinburgh. It works, and I take (and liberate) Ur in the peace deal. Unfortunately, the Celts retook Belgrade at some point and then Hong Kong took it (allied with Hong Kong, but it would have been better to be allies with both). Looks like that reckless strategy actually might have been the correct strategy to speed me up, but maybe Boudicca was attacking Dido's armies rather than mine.

Austria (T171)

Spoiler :

The next turn (T137), Theodora asks me to join her against Austria. Why not? Austria is basically in the middle of my two armies, so it's convenient. The attack on Salzburg starts on T153 with 2 logistics xbows, 3 impi, and a horse. Support from 2 catapults, another impi, and a comp bow isn't far behind, and Salzburg falls on T158. Meanwhile, I researched Chemistry on T155 and start building another army (cannons, impis, knight). Vienna finally falls on T171 ending the war against Maria Theresa.

Russia (T191) and Portugal (T192)

Spoiler :

DOW Maria I on T172 with 3 impi, a knight, and 6 cannons. DOW Catherine (again) on T175 with 2 logistics range xbows, 3 cannons, 5 impis, a knight, and a horse. Commerce finisher on T188 so I can finally afford the happiness hit to raze some of Catherine's cities - that briefly delayed Oxford for Dynamite (T189). Capture Moscow on T191 - same turn I tech Rifling. Capture Lisbon on T192.

NW Army: 3 imips, 2 cavs, 6 arties. I leave 2 impis behind.
SW Army: 3 rifles, 1 musket, 1 impi, 1 cav, 1 horse, 2 logistics range xbows, 3 arties (2 logistics). Leave the musket and impi behind

England (T218)

Spoiler :

I'm friends with Dido and still friends with Theodora, so those will be the last two. That means England is next to be followed by Spain (bigger army than me). Dido has the biggest army but that might only be after I started attacking Isabella. But first, would you like to make a trade with England?

DOW Elizabeth on T196 - same turn I finish Industrialization and buy two factories (third one will take a few turns for the gold). Dido beats me to ideology on T198 - Autocracy. One turn later, I follow her into Autocracy. World Fair finally finishes on T205 - don't remember exactly how long it took, but I had about 75 or 80% of the total production (and my total production wasn't good - I had only annexed 4 or 5 cities at that point). Scientific Theory on T207, but schools are low priority. In fact, I adjust a uni scientist in order to get an engineer (future Prora). Brandenburg in capital on T217 (hard built). London falls T218 - same turn I get Militarism happiness (another much needed boost).

Spain (T255), Carthage (T262), Byzantium (T264)

Spoiler :

Didn't write down when I declared on Isabella - probably around T220. Big Ben hard built in Guangzhou on T228. Flight on T230, so I engineer Prora in Lisbon on T230 - still a 15-turn build after the engineer (completed T244). Clausewitz's Legacy on T232.

Liberate Adrianople on T236 - that was a mistake (only cost 2 turns though). Isabella pushing back well and looks like Elizabeth is surrounding London. Finally capture Cordoba on T246 - still need Barcelona and Madrid. Liz pulled back - probably trying to attack someone to the west London (Theodora probably).

DOW Dido on T248 and liberate Dublin (bringing Boudicca back to life - was eliminated by Dido a long time ago). Dido has the biggest army, and I need to go through 3 more cities while flanked by others. This might be tough to protect my arties.

Capture Madrid on T255. Research Combustion on T257, and that was the game changer. Probably didn't need landships, but before then, progress was slow. I had continued taking Autocracy policies, so I had Lightning Warfare. Capture Carthage and DOW Theodora (betraying my word) on T262. Capture Constantinople on T264

Screen Shots (all T264)

Spoiler :

Final Assault

Spoiler :

Victory Screen!

Spoiler :

Core Cities

Spoiler :

 

[mbbcam]

I gave it a go but played it badly and gave up on T172. I may try again. I'm not used to Large maps as I only play Standard size. The wide open spaces take a bit of getting used to. Plus, my computer heats up a lot with the extra effort. So do I, come to that ... I've only played Shaka once and that was about ten years ago, so another unfamiliar element. All in all, it was quite a learning experience, so it may be worth doing it again and putting the lessons into practice.
Lesson no. 1 would be to build more units early in the game. I've never seen so many Barb camps, and the AI wasn't doing anything much about them.

 

[mbbcam]

@consentient Some questions:
1. How do you go about planning what order to attack other Civs? In my initial trial I later noticed that I opted to attack first the Civ that you attacked last. I realise that mine was not a good choice.
2. There is always a risk of being dogpiled in a Domination sweep. Is there any reliable way to spot that coming? Or is it only a question of forestalling it by pre-emptive diplomacy?

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

 

[consentient]

Hey lads. I will do my best to answer your questions

1. Annex vs Puppet = Leave as Puppet indefinitely unless they start wasting hammers on a TRULY useless wonder (like a Hotel). Puppets are way better for DomV than Annexed cities
2. Spaces between cities = Unavoidable. Depending on the length of the gap, the correct solution varies. Usually best way is Open Borders nad roads. Once the AI settles in that space, they will be saddled with the maintenance cost on the roads and you can still move through and heal for a measly 2 GPT
3. Guilds. I usually build Writers Guild after Universities and the first major army(s) have left the home base on their sweep, if reinforcements are not badly needed. I don't usually bother with Artist Guild. You will be capturing lots of Wonders that give points towards GA anyway. (EDIT: Also, GAs are not really that important, since you will prioritise the middle of the tech tree, and hit Banking and Economics very early), and the main use for GAs is extra GPT. GWs however are crucial to get the Commerce finisher ASAP since it is clearly the most OP policy in the whole game)
4. Workshops. For Liberty, research Metal Casting before Education, and build the workshops precisely 1 place ahead of the universities in the queue. For Tradition and Honor, I buy Universities if possible, and Workshops are not a high priority. Barracks are much more important.
5. World Fair = Put all of your cities in Production mode, even to the point where they are in Starvation (provided more than 10 turns to lose a pop) and then look at the rankings. If you are not #1 for hammers, put only 350 hammers into WF for the social policy and then switch back to units or Wealth. If you ARE #1, then just blast it out as fast as possible. 2 turns is my record for completing whole thing, but 5 is typical. If you are not able to do it quickly by yourself, once you have hit 1200 (or 1500 if you suspect there is an actual rival, someone like Darius that actually bothers) then just switch production back to whatever you were doing. The AI will finish it eventually. And if they don't, don't worry about it. WF is not the biggest deal. In around half my games, I propose it as an idea, then use my CS votes to vote against my own proposal, and repeat that infinitely for an insane diplo boost


6. Order of attack and avoiding dogpiling. This is basically determined by Diplomacy. Let me use a visual aid.

Quick summary of what you should aim for in the zones

Near = your first victim will obviously be here. Ideally both of them will be your #1 or #2 target AND you will have the military edge, but sometimes you may have to befriend one of them in order to keep them off your back. If Alex/Shaka/Genghis etc ask you T20 to go to war with them against someone in another zone, it's usually a good idea to accept. Otherwise, bribes may be necessary. Ideal situation is you get your next victim to DoW everybody, denounce and DoW them in the same turn so you don't have to pay them for very long at all. Believe it or not, they will actually sometimes march their enemy towards the bribe targets as a priority, leaving their rear exposed (oo ar!)

Middle = safe to DoF them until Midgame, but then you will need to make choices about which ones you want to keep friendly and which ones you want to victimise.

Far = Keep DoF until the very endgame, and then giggle as you DoW them mercilessly after 200 turns of friendship.


In this specific map, I went after Maria first because she is one of the hardest civs to bribe. She is fundamentally not interested in war, so this DoW had no bribes for her, only for the civs I wanted to help me take her down. In Medieval era, diplo penalty for a single DoW after denouncing is small. And I wanted to take her out ASAP before she removed my CS because my entire playstyle is built around dumping excess gold into them.

Maria was next because she backstabbed and DoW'd me, which was convenient because no diplo penalty and 2nd army was ready just to teach her a lesson. Also gave access to the sea and prevented me from ever needing to deal with the insane naval spam that is - if anything - worse than land unit spam.

Then I went after Boudicca because she was the only person I could convince to DoW everyone. It meant a long march for both armies to head back into the centre and then east, but because she was at war with EVERYONE no one cared when I razed 80% of her cities.

Byz, England and Spain had by this point soured in their attitude towards me so I went to the SE to deal with them, before finally turning on my loyal allies China and Russia, whom I had groomed from the start.

- - -

Hope this addresses all points. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. I will in the next few days put a poll up here so peeps can vote on which map will be next. Watch this space

 

[mbbcam]

@consentient Interesting and very useful. I don't think I've ever studied and analysed this game enough to be good at it (as my results would indicate -- I usually just fall into a zombie-like pattern fixated on a small area of combat and lose sight of the bigger picture). I always do the same unsuccessful things every game, and we all know what that is supposed to demonstrate! But as I have qualifications in psychology I would argue that there something more complex going on.

I find myself wondering if the game has changed so much since @peddroelm was making his videos that his approach is less useful than it was at that time. It is a while since I watched one of his videos but I don't recall him paying as much attention to City States as you say you do. And if I recall @Acken's China Domination game correctly there was not too much Diplomatic activity in that. However, it is a long time since I watched that and probably my memory is faulty.

This map was very educational for me, but I doubt that I'll finish it as it is very slow going for me. On my computer a large map takes a noticeable amount of time to go through all the players at the end/beginning of each turn. I'm a very slow player (at my age -- 72 -- everything is slower than it used to be) and I've already put 16 hours into this map (two attempts totalling about 270 turns). I'm still working (as a psychotherapist) so I have to fit Civ into the empty slots in my days, and I can't afford to knacker myself with my efforts.

Anyway, thank you for the contributions to our learning, and I will be interested to see what the next one is.

 

[consentient]

OK so I have 14 maps for you to choose from, all themed

"Horsing Around"	Pocatello	Pangaea	Large	Immortal			all civs have horse UUs
"And then there were two"	Alex	Pangaea	Small	Deity			theme is a surprise
"Manifestly Unfair"	Washington	Pangaea	Small	Deity	No barbs		you share the landmass with only one AI, who has greater than normal advantages
"First Things First"	Askia	Pangaea	Small	Deity	Raging barbs		you share the landmass with only one AI, but it may not be as straightforward to conquer them due to forces beyond your control
"There Can Be Only One"	Isabella	Pangaea	Huge	Deity	OCC		you have OCC vs some of the toughest AI opponents. Can you weather the storm and win?
"Duel to the Death"	Caesar	Pangaea	Duel	Deity			settling an old score
"The Sack of Rome"	Dido	Pangaea	Duel	Deity			elephants vs mountains. Not historically accurate but thematic all the same

:

"Lebensraum"	Rammy	Continents	Large	Deity	Random Personalities		you do not have much space to settle. You will be forced to expand violently
"The Dark Tower"	Pacal	Continents	Large	Deity			you will start with a considerable advantage, and a flexible one at that. How well will you use it when faced with such bloodthirsty neighbours? (and potential runaways on the other landmass)
"Under Siege"	Ashurbanipal	Pangaea	Standard	Deity			You will be given a small advantage to help you get your UU up and running more swiftly. Can you leverage that to survive and conquer?
"Viking Power"	Bluetooth	Oval	Standard	Immortal			a small, densely-populated landmass is yours to rule, if you have the steel to see the job through
"Room to roam"	Maria Theresa	Pangaea	Standard	Immortal			the opposite of the last map. There is a LOT of space. How will you use it? Navigate it? Rule it? (should give an opportunity to make actual use of the UA)
"Have Faith?"	Boudicca	Pangaea	Standard	Immortal			your opponents will be the least faithful of the bunch, and a religion will be practically guaranteed for you. Can you make good use of that for warmongering purposes?
"The Ultimate Challenge"	Casimir	Pangaea	Huge	Deity			likely the largest and toughest map you will ever play. Stopping the runaways and establishing a military foothold will be extremely difficult. Both Domination and Time victories will be VERY hard on this map. I'm finding it tough and I made it!

Please indicate your top 3 choices, and the first one to get 3 votes in any position will be posted shortly thereafter

 

[ForkOfSpite]

Wow, most of these maps sound out of my league - Horsing Around is the only one I'd feel a bit confident about. I don't know when I'd be able to get to any of these (playing TSG 250 now and want to try 251, too). Given that 251 is immortal domination, I'll vote deity here. In increasing difficulty IMO based on the descriptions ...

1) Sack of Rome - just because I'd enjoy trying to actually use Phoenician Heritage)
2) Under Seige
3) There Can Be Only One