What are some of your favorite mementos?

[Berrern]

2 points, though:

1. Shisa Necklace effect depends on the map size, Bifocals aren't. If you play Small maps, there aren't 20 independents to befriend, especially in Antiquity if you don't have access to distant lands IP.
2. Most influence from Shisa Necklace comes into play pretty late into the game. If you scout well, most of its effect come into play when there are no independents to befriend already, for peaceful play it usually means will go to overflow.

Yeah, I mentioned map sizes towards the end of my previous post, it's a good point!

As for point 2, I'd say it depends on your strategy - and luck!
What I mean by that is that if your strategy is to focus your early Influence solely on befriending IPs, you can befriend the first one after 17 turns. And if you're lucky, it's a friendly one, meaning you get your first 100 Influence boost on turn 32. Depending on your leader and civ, it can go even faster, for example if you play with Greece & Machiavelli you'll get your first 100 Influence boost on turn 26!
Of course, if you've only found hostile IPs early on, you'll have to add 15 turns to the above numbers.

Conversely, I'd say it's nearly impossible to research two masteries (to get 100 Influence from Bifocals) by turn 32 - at least on Deity.

Assuming the first IP you befriend is friendly and the second is hostile, you won't get your second +100 Influence boost until turn 62 - but it'll really start snowballing from there!
In a recent game I played with Tecumseh & Greece, I actually had 5 City States (+500 Influence) by turn 74, and 9 City States (+900 Influence) by turn 99.

 

[Sagax]

Probably worth pointing out that I find neither Bifocals nor Shisa a good pick for Antiquity. But come Exploration, discovering IPs quickly and early has been barely an issue in my games, so Shisa all the way from there.

As for Antiquity, am I the only Groma + Gold & Sapphire Flower crackhead here? I find the slingshot it provides way too tempting and consistent.

 

[MutilationWave]

I don't have either of those yet, how much population are you getting?

I'm playing pirates right now with Scythian Battle Axe and Brace of Pistols. So much gold is rolling in from naval engagements. I never hear this memento mentioned and I think it might be underrated.

 

[Sagax]

I don't have either of those yet, how much population are you getting?

It’s not about population over time, but rather how soon you get your capital to pop 5 and can train Settlers (which is also helped by the first bonus in the Expansionist tree).

Faster Settler > faster Settlement 2/3 > more yields > more time for the Settlements to grow > cheaper City conversion by the same point of time in the future.

This gets crazier if you mix in Han, Ibn Battuta, or faster game speeds (G&S Flower doesn’t scale down on faster speeds).

 

[MutilationWave]

That's what I meant, I was unintentionally vague. How quickly are you getting to pop 5?

 

[reddishrecue]

Favorite momentos of mine are usually science type momentos where they give some sort of science increase. I don't really know the momentos but they are usually blue.

 

[Berrern]

That's what I meant, I was unintentionally vague. How quickly are you getting to pop 5?

I used to play with those two mementos quite a bit back in the day, but in the end I stopped because IMO it's very overpowered.

If you play as Han (giving you a double growth event), your Capital will be at Population 5 already on Turn 3.
If you're also playing as Ashoka World Conqueror (giving you +1 production), depending on your starting location, your first Settler will be ready on Turn 7 or 8!

 

[MrRadar]

I don't yet have my absolute favourites, going through them and experimenting, and I still have a lot of them to unlock.
Recently I played a Tonga game on Archipelago map and only after the fact I realized I should have taken the Travels of Marco Polo for that game in Antiquity. As you can uncover basically the whole map in Antiquity, on a standard size map that would net you ~2K+ gold, that's quite sizeable funds that early. Well, that'll be one for the next Tonga game.

If I anticipate early wars, I also tend to take Scythian Battle Axe. A commander that fills out the whole promotion tree also earns some nice coin to help the early development.

Otherwise, if I feel that diplomacy will be prevalent, then I take Shisa Necklace, that payback in influence is very nice.

Once I took the one giving ranged units +1 movement. Paired with unique archers that was crazy, mobile artillery in the ancient times

In the Antiquity I also usually take one giving an attribute point, whichever best suits my selected leader and civ.

As for Imago Mundi, I fell out of love with it a bit, because, yes, uncovering your landmass in a few easy clicks is fun, but then what? Then it becomes useless for the bigger portion of the age. I find that the respective policy from the civics is quite enough, and you uncover what's there to be uncovered anyway. It still would be fun to try it paired with the Travels for Tonga, to get that gold even earlier.

 

[pjotroos]

As for Antiquity, am I the only Groma + Gold & Sapphire Flower crackhead here? I find the slingshot it provides way too tempting and consistent.

I'm definitely underutilising all the early slingshot combos. I tried a game recently where I went for the +2 production per age in cities with positive happiness in antiquity, purely for that extra two in the capital at the very start, and that has sped up the whole age so much. Groma/Flower sounds insanely good, I'll need to try it soon.