LifeOfBrian
King
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2019
- Messages
- 757
One of the easiest/most sure-fire ways to win is to wage war offensively & spying at least to some extent. What about winning peacefully/with only defensive wars/no spying? What are your recommendations, be it general or civ-specific?
I'll start with two civs, Byzantium and Siam. With both you can afford to delay shrines and focus on getting Pyramids even if you decide to go Progress instead of Tradition & even on Deity. So I usually start Monument -> Pyramids.
As Byzantium I'm in no rush to found that quickly, which means I can be picky about my pantheon and I can focus a bit more on early expansion/defense. I'll take Way of the Pilgrimage as either my founding belief or my extra belief. What to take as your extra belief is a matter of discussion, but I find taking Apostolic tradition to be very effective, as your holy city can grow over 30 pop by the time you hit the Industrial era. I also use my 7th policy on the Fealty opener even if I'm not going the Fealty route, because the faith purchase discount makes the Pilgrimage tactic much more effective, plus Monastery is a very good building. As Byzantium, getting Borobodur makes the game a whole lot easier, so that's my next big goal (besides early survival and expansion). Usually that means I have to take Iconography (-1 to wonder policy requirements) to beat Egypt, Ethiopia, ...., from getting there first. After that, your goal is to maximize the amount of culture you'll get from spreading. That means you'll benefit the most from spreading against big AI cities (mostly tradition capitals) with the most followers of other religions. As for spreading to non-founders, unless you get there first (great for Apostolic tradition!), I recommend saving up for a Great prophet and spreading that way. After that, it's more or less being careful about having enough military to act as a deterrent and to protect yourself in case of a DoW and using your huge capital and extra social policies to steer you in the direction you want to.
As for Siam, my big early-game goal is to found. Unlike most other civs, I can consistently get a lot of help in doing that via religious city states. So it's imperative that you scout until you've met at least two. After that, use quests AND GIFTING WARRIORS to become&remain their allies until you've founded a religion. So that means that you delay Bronze working for quite a while, using Horsemen, Skirmishers and CBowmen for your military. You can also use the gifting warriors tactics on other city states, especially before you've built Scrivener's office, to help you with your early culture etc. I'd also recommend focusing on getting Roman forum as a big goal, because it'll help you a lot throughout the game, and I'd generally take Statecraft as Siam. With Siam it's enough to get a religion, even if it's 5th you should be ok as long as you've founded enough cities to give you enough production/supply to reasonably defend yourself.
That's the basic info on how I usually win reliably with those two civs. Looking forward to hearing your strategies for winning peacefully!
I'll start with two civs, Byzantium and Siam. With both you can afford to delay shrines and focus on getting Pyramids even if you decide to go Progress instead of Tradition & even on Deity. So I usually start Monument -> Pyramids.
As Byzantium I'm in no rush to found that quickly, which means I can be picky about my pantheon and I can focus a bit more on early expansion/defense. I'll take Way of the Pilgrimage as either my founding belief or my extra belief. What to take as your extra belief is a matter of discussion, but I find taking Apostolic tradition to be very effective, as your holy city can grow over 30 pop by the time you hit the Industrial era. I also use my 7th policy on the Fealty opener even if I'm not going the Fealty route, because the faith purchase discount makes the Pilgrimage tactic much more effective, plus Monastery is a very good building. As Byzantium, getting Borobodur makes the game a whole lot easier, so that's my next big goal (besides early survival and expansion). Usually that means I have to take Iconography (-1 to wonder policy requirements) to beat Egypt, Ethiopia, ...., from getting there first. After that, your goal is to maximize the amount of culture you'll get from spreading. That means you'll benefit the most from spreading against big AI cities (mostly tradition capitals) with the most followers of other religions. As for spreading to non-founders, unless you get there first (great for Apostolic tradition!), I recommend saving up for a Great prophet and spreading that way. After that, it's more or less being careful about having enough military to act as a deterrent and to protect yourself in case of a DoW and using your huge capital and extra social policies to steer you in the direction you want to.
As for Siam, my big early-game goal is to found. Unlike most other civs, I can consistently get a lot of help in doing that via religious city states. So it's imperative that you scout until you've met at least two. After that, use quests AND GIFTING WARRIORS to become&remain their allies until you've founded a religion. So that means that you delay Bronze working for quite a while, using Horsemen, Skirmishers and CBowmen for your military. You can also use the gifting warriors tactics on other city states, especially before you've built Scrivener's office, to help you with your early culture etc. I'd also recommend focusing on getting Roman forum as a big goal, because it'll help you a lot throughout the game, and I'd generally take Statecraft as Siam. With Siam it's enough to get a religion, even if it's 5th you should be ok as long as you've founded enough cities to give you enough production/supply to reasonably defend yourself.
That's the basic info on how I usually win reliably with those two civs. Looking forward to hearing your strategies for winning peacefully!
