Adventure 13: Strange Power Duck's game

[Strange Power Duck]

Hi all,

This is my first completed game on RB.

I managed to get away with a (very late) Cultural Victory in 2016 AD. I had one small war and although I didn't always feel very safe, I was never in danger of being wiped off the planet. This was probably because I eventually went Buddhy-buddy with the two closest civs (Cathy and Isabella), of which I had already all but killed off one.

I enjoyed the game, here is my full report.

[Atlas]

I actually 'forgot' about going for a (competition, not game) win. Well, I don't think I stand a chance at all against the seasoned players, so it's a moot point, but I sure didn't try to win. I didn't strategize to get the quickest victory, I just tried to win my game. Not that that is bad in itself, as the important thing is to have fun, but it just feels like I 'forgot' about the competition.

Congratulations on your win. And you are 100% correct having fun is the most important thing .

You are correct, Caste System would have been helpful sooner, perhaps a beeline to that instead of Theology?

[Ruff_Hi]

Nice game and report. I actually liked your malformed screen shots - very funny and I also note that you build the mega-commerce city that I was dreaming off.

Finally, the clock turn counter mod you mentioned is approved but didn't get approved in time for this adventure. It is approved for Adv 14 and Epic 9 (what ever they turn out to be) and later.

[T-hawk]

Welcome to Realms Beyond. Great first report!

Buddhy-buddy

I don't understand why the game will never found a religion in your capital once you have more than one city, but that's the way things are...).

It's not quite never; IIRC the capital gets a 1/8 weighting as compared to each other city. But the reason is to "share the wealth" and make the game less capital-centric. The CS slingshot thread up in the main forum has a discussion of how one's economic strength well into the mid-game depends so much on the strength of one's capital. Pushing the religions elsewhere spreads that out at least to some small extent.

Strange... I always thought you needed Sailing (which I don't have yet) to get trade routes but apparently it's enough for the cultural borders to connect (which happened this turn due to the borderpop at Sparta).

I experienced that too -- the first two cities connecting before building roads or learning Sailing. Does it really happen with just the cultural borders of the cities touching?

Caste system way earlier. May have stunted growth in the culture cities, but they needed culture more than growth.

Take a look at the comments in my Adventure 11 report thread for some more discussion on this topic. Early culture production really pales into irrelevancy for a cultural win. In the late game, a good cultural city produces 500 to 1000 or more culture per turn, which just drowns the pennies of culture produced by artists early.

It looks like you only settled one Great Artist and used the rest for Great Works? Settling GAs is usually best until you're very near the end. 1040 AD is way too early to be firing off Great Works. With a late-game culture multiplier of +200% from Free Speech and two cathedrals, a settled GA will pay back more culture than a Great Work in 4000 / (12 * (1 + 200%)) = 111 turns, plus the cash payout as well. The payback horizon is even shorter with a higher multiplier (more cathedrals, Hermitage) and the Sistine Chapel (+2 culture for every specialist.)

[mike p]

I experienced that too -- the first two cities connecting before building roads or learning Sailing. Does it really happen with just the cultural borders of the cities touching?

Fishing allows trade routes over water within your cultural borders. Without Fishing, they wouldn't be connected in that case.

[Strange Power Duck]

Finally, the clock turn counter mod you mentioned is approved but didn't get approved in time for this adventure. It is approved for Adv 14 and Epic 9 (what ever they turn out to be) and later.

Ouch... Ok. Me understands. Me crawl back into shadows where me comes from. Me change name to Shadow Duck. Me cry a little in dark.

P.S.: Thanks everyone for your comments.