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It's been a while since I've completed an RB event, let alone made a proper report. I let my free website expire, so I'm not sure if I can resurrect my old reports or not. Now I know to save a copy of the report on my own machine.
I've played very little with Warlords. This will be the first game I've actually played to completion. The event description is here. In a nutshell, we want a diplomatic victory, and the more people that like us (who aren't in our cities), the better. If you get them to do more voting for you than you do, that's even better.
Pre-game thinking: I thought about this a bit and decided that religion will play a huge role in determining the diplomatic status of the game. And, of course, the best way to control a religion is to found it. And to have the ability to generate and send out missionaries. We had a little inside info: the civs--though not the leaders--who inhabit our pangeaic world. A quick check of their starting techs reveals that we're the only ones who start with Mysticism. Hydra here we come!
Moving the starting warrior turned out to be huge since he revealed gold. With two cornfields, I'd rather have gold than pigs, so I zigzagged the starting settler north so that he would reveal a couple new tiles too. And also so he'd be in position to get a coastal location (next turn) if that looked good.
Moving the warrior on turn 2 yielded even more gold! There was only one spot to settle to get both golds and still have 2 food resources. It would cost me another turn, but since no one else starts with Mysticism--and since I start with Mining too!--I figured it would be worth it. (The screenshot shows the second move of the settler this turn, having come from 1SW.)
With the capital settled, gold to mine, and religions to found, I started a worker right away and set research for Meditation with Polytheism next.
I quickly met Stalin by spotting his scout from across the lake. Then, the scout started heading back toward the hut I'd moved my settler away from to start the game! While I had found a hut a bit NW of the gold, I had my warrior on the way back to grab the other hut. With a warrior vs. AI scouts on pangeaea, I figured I wouldn't be popping many huts.
But this was just weird:
I could have declared war and killed his scout, but I didn't want the diplomatic penalty. I pray for an animal to appear on the hut.
Completely incomprehensibly (to me, at least), Stalin's scout apparently elected to defend against an animal on top of a forested plains hill rather than pop this hut. This is great fortune for me, because wounded AI scouts simply heal rather than move. And so, I reach the hut before he heals and get:
The wheel! Not a hugely expensive tech, but it gives my yet-to-be-completed worker even more to do once he arrives. Nice. I did notice that once the scout healed up, he disappeared. And I saw a bear at health 2.1/3.0, so I'm pretty sure what happened to him. Stalin doesn't suffer his fools for long.
I slip Agriculture in after Polytheism, then go for Masonry/Monotheism and so complete the BudHinJew hydra in Seoul:
The plan is going well. And yes, that is a settler nearing completion in my capital. I started it right after the worker finished. The city has no food in its...food bar? Soon enough. My research has hummed right along as I work the gold mine while building the food-eating units.
Of course, by the time I've birthed the hydra and trained my worker and settler, I've met nearly everyone on the map. Strangely, the one I meet last is Elizabeth. Strange because, as it turns out later, she's just up north a little ways. She must have had some bad luck with the barb animals.
I realize that I am on a peninsula here, so with my first trained settler, I decide to try to grab a little bit more land. I'm a little wary of all the jungle to the north, but this spot looks like an excellent production city, so I grab it. (The screenshot is from the turn prior to P'yongyang's founding, but the settler is sitting on the city site.)
I'm hoping I can keep enough culture going to fight back Moscow for control of those gems. That's +2 happy faces with a forge! Also, settling on the plains hill nets an extra hammer for the new worker I've got going. And the overlap with the capital lets me continue to work a gold mine even while the capital grows.
Let's see...techs then went Pottery, Priesthood, Writing, Code of Laws. While I'm working on CoL, Stalin improves the gem mine for me. After CoL--which lands Confucianism in Pyongyang--I grab Animal Husbandry because I have another settler ready to go down the peninsula a bit.
With a turn remaining for AH, I found Wonsan. This should be another great production city. If I am lucky, it will also be a holy city too. Pyongyang has been growing while working on The Oracle, and Seoul has put out a couple warriors, and is on a library. With so much food and gold, I even built the library before the granary.
I'm a bit surprised to see the slowness of religion spread. Judaism spreads to Pyongyang in 2120BC, but it takes a long time before anyone else converts. Finally, I notice Moscow with Judaism in 1320BC. In 1160BC, Judaism spreads of its own accord to Wonsan, so both my cities got the same "free" religion as Mao. I start thinking that Judaism will be the faith of this world. This is despite the fact that in that same year, Mao converts to Confucianism. Despite this, I decide I want to adopt Judaism as my state religion.
I first take the opportunity to switch to Slavery and Organized Religion in one shot. This means I can train Jewish missionaries in all my cities without monasteries. Also, my buildings will go up a little faster. I remember wondering at this point whether or not the whipping bug was fixed for Warlords, but since I don't exploit it, I never really noticed.
Unfortunately, my Confucian missionary--who has been scouting the land--ends his turn next to some barbarians. They seem unimpressed with his message and his location goes dark.
In 850BC, everything comes together. I finish researching Mathematics. I finish building the Oracle. That means, of course, that I can pull off the.... Er, um.... Ah the demands of the AI. Well, my plan in this game is pretty much to give them whatever they want. Except war. So, Napoleon gets my gold here.
Anyway, as I was saying, in 850BC, everything comes together for:
I don't remember if this is frowned upon by the RB community in Warlords or not. I know I was surprised to find Mathematics as a prereq for Civil Service. So, I assume it's okay. If not, I just commited an exploit. It seemed like the perfect choice given a double-gold capital.
I slipped in Bronzeworking before Mathematics, but it looks like our copper is out of reach. Even though I don't have a whole lot of respect for Prince level military, I'd feel better with more than chariots, so after the slingshot, I start researching Ironworking.
Wonsan starts work on the Parthenon while the other two cities are working on Jewish missionaries. I'd like to convert the AIs to Judaism without necessarily bringing the faith to their capitals. No need to accelerate their development any more than necessary.
Sadly, the first religion to get to Roosevelt is Hinduism. Happily, more Judaism spreads to another Russian city. Also happily, I get a missionary to York before any other faith can spread to the English. Sadly, the English settle Nottingham near some Iron NW of Pyongyang. I just know there's going to be some cultural conflict there, and I'd rather not have the negative modifiers.
Most sadly, however, I get my first no-win demand from Roosevelt in 850BC. I was afraid of this. A -1 modifier with either Roosevelt or Mao. I decide that Mao is tougher to befriend, so Roosevelt gets turned down. Sorry pal.
I make a note to continue pushing missionaries.
You can see that I'm researching Theology, but of course I really don't want anyone to convert to Christianity.
I catch a bit of a break here. Judaism spreads of its own accord to the French city of Tours. Since that's the furthest AI from me, it helps not to have to send missionaries.
The century 500s BC was very interesting.
In 550, Elizabeth demands Code of Laws from us. In the interest of RB score, she gets it. As will every other AI who asks for anything in this game.
For our generosity, we are rewarded in 525BC with Theology and the founding of Christianity in Wonsan which continues to dilegently build the Parthenon for me. Also, Beijing receives Judaism.
And in 500BC, Mao converts to Judaism. Although he only had one city with Judaism, it was his capital. Apparently that's worth a turn of anarchy for the AI.
Now, at this point, I didn't realize what an amazing stroke of good fortune this was. Mao was already the leading AI, some 85+ points ahead of second-place Napoleon. Usually, the AI with the best land has the best score, so it was looking likely that Mao would eventually be my opponent for the diplomatic victory.
My original plan was to have all the world be of one faith, except for my likely diplomatic opponent. When Mao spontaneously converted, however, I decided to make the whole world one faith until the very end, and only then convert Mao to some other faith. That would save me millenia of demands from the AI to stop trades or go to war or trading with worst enemies. All such would lower my score in this game. And that would be bad. So....
A missionary in Boston, a missionary in New York, and badaboom, badabing (with a tense, three turn delay!):
The world is at peace under the star of David. Of course, I am by far the weakest inhabitant of this world. But still, at least we all like each other. I can only hope that Lord McCauley is using the wrong metric to measure power.
In 275BC, Taoism is founded in Wonsan.
After this, there is a long lull. I discover Monarchy, only to realize that I still have very few troops, and they're all warriors. I build some more. I make a point never to research Hunting so that I can have cheap Heriditary Rule garrisons. In 150BC, my first great person (a temple-priest- and Oracle-derived prophet) is used to found the Temple of Solomon. At that point, I am running +6gpt at 100% research.
While researching Literature for the Great Library (completed in Seoul in 540AD), I build three more settlers. This is because my master plan requires many great scientists.
In order to get those great scientists, I found:
These three city exist for one purpose: To generate Great Scientist (and later Great Artists) under the Caste System. I got free Judaism spread to two of the three, but needed a missionary to help the people of Pusan see things the way the rest of the world did.
Each of those three cities could use farms, seafood, and city center to get a total food surplus of +8F, or 4 specialists. By running Caste System and Pacifism while having built the Parthenon, I was able to generate 30 GPP from each city every turn. I think these cities only got granaries (whipped before the switch to Caste System).
Both Seoul (National Epic, Great Library, Hanging Gardens, Temple of Solomon, Academy[860AD]) and Wonsan (Parthenon, Colossus) competed for great people points, but that was fine. Pyongyang built the University of Sankore, but it never produced another meaningful great person.
I researched to within 2 turns of Liberalism, and then frequently checked to see where the AIs were on the Liberalism path. They didn't prioritize it at all.
In 1010AD, I realized that I'd forgotten to found Islam! I set my research to Divine Right, only to have the "Islam fiadl" message appear immediately afterward. A quick poll of the AIs showed that only Mao had Divine Right. But I couldn't see the city where Islam had been founded. I quickly sent some Jewish missionaries his way to keep him in with the rest of us, but I didn't convert all his cities because I still wanted to be able to switch him back out for the final vote.
I think my second great person was a great engineer, and I stashed him in Seoul to build the UN. The third was a scientist who made an Academy in Seoul.
Three scientists shortened the research time of Physics considerably. That gave another which knocked Electricity down from 13 turns to 9 turns.
Right after that, I decided to take a picture of my military might:
There is no doubt that I was relying heavily on the kindness of strangers. Fortunately, most of the AIs were Friendly toward me, and those that weren't were very Pleased.
In fact, everyone was friendly with me for a very long time except Stalin. I guess he just never demanded anything, so I didn't get any extra positive bonuses with him. In the 1100s, I think I gifted him 2 free resources in addition to the great deal on another he was already getting.
In 1150AD, Enrico Fermi was born in Pusan and took Electricity down from 4 turns to 1 turn. That was the last great person I used. It was probably a mistake to found three GP cities. I think I should have only founded two.
But I wasn't expecting to be able to pull this off:
I am quite sure that this is the deepest free tech I have ever taken. None of the AIs had Education at this point.
Note: While I gave the AIs anything they asked for, I think I hardly made any trades after Currency. I didn't want to speed them along the tech path any more than absolutely necessary. Mostly, I was afraid of them getting to Liberalism and switching to Free Religion. Each AI that did this would cost me plenty in bonus points and possibly even their diplomatic votes.
Only 9 turns till Mass Media. I'd built 3 Confucian missionaries and was ready to convert Mao, when I checked the "Crop Yield" chart and realized that Mao and Napoleon were swapping places on the chart. In fact, at the moment, Napoleon had more food than Mao.
So, I moved my 3 Confucian missionaries to Napoleon's cities, ready to try to convert him, but I still don't know for sure who my opponent will be. I will lose all my shared religion bonuses if the AI switches to Free Religion, so I've got to get the UN built quickly and get the voting over with.
I am in a panic until 1290AD when it finally occurs to me:
Of course! I can simply trade for their world maps. Mao is unwilling to trade straight up, but a mere 20g lets us make a deal. Napoleon is extremely kind. "What do you want for this" with his map on the table reveals that he'll show me what he knows for only 10g. Wow.
This reveals the location of the Chinese Islamic Holy city on a south peninsula and a French city on a little island off on the northeast corner of the Great Continent. A quick summing of their city populations reveals that Mao still has a few pop more than Napoleon. Three pop, if I remember correctly. Very close!
So, my Confusion (hee hee) Missionaries head back to Chinese lands. They are, I admit, in a little bit of a panic at this point, since all the cities near French lands are already Confucian, and I can't train any more until these are used.
I forgot to mention that I had one more great person surprise. I already had one Great Engineer to rush the United Nations, but he would only knock off 740H of the 1000H production.
So, I'd been pushing great people in Seoul and Wonsan, but could only hope that my single forge-assigned engineer would beat the odds when the pop came.
It didn't. I popped a Great Merchant instead. Totally useless, of course.... Except that I still had a few turns remaining on Mass Media and--in a surprise to me--he could be burned on Mass Media. It brought research time down from three turns to one turn, but hey, every little bit helps.
One of the other things I did when I'd met all the AIs was to check to see what their favorite civics were. Two were State Property, one was Mercantilism, one was Representation, and Elizabeth was Free Religion. My research went toward Banking (allowing Mercantilism) after getting Mass Media. I'd try for Representation too, but hoped I wouldn't have time to get there. Too bad nobody liked Hereditary Rule.
As an aside, I probably should have gone to Mercantilism much earlier. The extra specialist would have boosted my great person production in my little cities by 25%. Might have gotten one or two more and saved a few turns. Maybe not though, since it would have taken time away from my Liberal Media beeline. I'm curious to see if anyone else tries this.
In 1340AD, the results are in for the Secretary General election:
As predicted, Mao was my opponent, but only by 2 pop points! Also, my missionaries were not doing very well. I brought Confusion to a couple of cities, but one missionary failed.
Worst of all, while I think I had Confucianism in his capital and more cities than Judaism, Mao wouldn't switch. I kept building and sending the missionaries as fast as I can.
Although I don't think it was necessary to go to this extent, I also decided to stack the deck in my favor for the RB Warlords points race. In 1340AD, here's my city screen:
By the end of that year, the Maoist insurgents who had infiltrated our government had made brutal use of the newly re-adopted Slavery civic to reduce our empire to a mere shadow of its former self:
Yes, the Korean people had been betrayed from the inside. While this level of self-inflicted pain probably wasn't necessary, I didn't want to take any chances with anyone being better buddies with Mao (or Napoleon if it went that way).
In 1370AD, the vote for Diplomatic Victor came up. With my 11 votes (some cities had too much food in their food bars so they grew back, and by the time I realized it, I couldn't whip them all away), the Koreans voted for Mao.
He still hadn't switched to Confucianism, so I was quite a bit nervous about this result, but the next turn, the results came in:
The plan worked to perfection. Barely. Mao and I voted for Mao. He had a single population point more than Napoleon. (What would happen in the event of a tie? Does anyone know?) I'd finally gotten a +1 with Stalin for providing resources, so all the AIs were Friendly with me. Of course, everyone had +4 fair trade too (primarily achieved by gifting them Astronomy on a Pangaea map!).
Judging from the voting results, I didn't actually need to whip away everyone. Getting rid of only a third of my population would have been about right. But hey, if you're going to exploit something, go whole hog. Within a few hundred years or so, I suspect the AI would have switched to Free Religion and I would have lost some points. I'm not sure what the vote situation would have been then. Any abstentions, and I'd've been in trouble.
A composite of their foreign advisor opinions reveals that they like me...they really, really like me!
A couple of things really surprised me here. Roosevelt has forgotten than I once declined his offer to stop trading with Mao. And even Elizabeth has neglected our "Close Borders" tension penalty. I thought those were permanent hits against you.
I must say, this was far beyond my wildest expectation. Not only was the all-one-faith world the way to go, but it appears that by gifting your opponents with techs and resources, you can make them love you more than they like each other.
Scoring
And I have one more good thing to say about this game:
I know I used the "Pause" button a lot while looking around or thinking about how to proceed, but any game of Civ played to completion in under 3 hours is a winner with me. Of course, I spent at least twice this much time thinking about the game and how to proceed with it. It's always fun to think outside the box with these variant rules.
Thanks Ruff_hi for sponsoring this one!