Epic 16 – Muaziz (Cultural Victory in 1804 AD)

[Muaziz]

Introduction
I started this game by doing a little research to get a better understanding for exactly how Corporations worked. I have yet to play a game with them, so this will be a great learning experience.

Here’s what I learned about Corporations, and specifically Sid’s Sushi. It’s oddly appropriate to be running Sid’s Sushi just after having returned from a 2 week vacation to Japan. Didn’t eat much sushi per se, but ate tons of sashimi (sushi… hold the rice wrapper).

Rather than re-hash a lot about Corps and how they work, here is an excellent post (updated for BTS patch v3.13):
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showth...94#post6106394

The documentation does not mention this, but each Corporate Office also generates 2 culture per Sushi resource (Clam, Fish, Crab, Rice) that you control. Note that how many such resources are in range of a city’s “fat cross” is irrelevant. All that matters is that you have access to the resource. However, unimproved Sushi tiles do not count.

Courthouses for the Corporate Headquarters and all Corporate Offices is a must. It cuts the high maintenance costs in half. That means that researching Code of Laws will be fairly high on the priority list.

Gold multipliers in the Corporate Headquarter city is a great way to offset Corporate maintenance costs. Wall Street in particular will work wonders. The Free Market civic also reduces Corporate maintenance costs by 25%.

Another important thing I discovered about Sid’s Sushi is that the +food bonus (of 0.5f / Sushi resource) increments on every odd numbered resource. For example, 1 Sushi resource will give you +1 food, 3 Sushi resources will give you +2 food, etc. If you can avoid it, you never want to have an even Sushi resource count since it will cost extra maintenance with almost no benefit (except the 2 culture).

Using the math from the great “Corporate Maintenance Explained” post above, we get the following maintenance costs per city size and resource count. These are just some examples for comparison’s sake.

Size 4
1 resource (+1 food): 7.0 gold
3 resources (+2 food): 9.8 gold
5 resources (+3 food): 12.6 gold

Size 8
1 resource (+1 food): 8.3 gold
3 resources (+2 food): 11.7 gold
5 resources (+3 food): 15.0 gold

Size 12
1 resource (+1 food): 9.7 gold
3 resources (+2 food): 13.5 gold
5 resources (+3 food): 17.4 gold


Game Plan
Scoring wise, it would be nice to have at 2 other cities with Corporate Offices by 5 AD. We start the game with one Executive, so that’s one for sure. It’s not clear whether having a second one in place by 5 AD will be too damaging to the economy or not. An Executive costs 150 hammers to build so it’s not cheap (by early game standards). We will have to wait and see.

If we are trying to maximize scoring, we will also need to avoid declaring war. Since we also want a lot of Sushi resources, that will mean expanding at a good pace.

Since Corporate Offices generate a lot of culture, a Cultural victory good be a good way to go. The only downside will be picking up the religions that we do not found. Later in the game, Cathedrals are very important for the +50% cultural bonus. Something to think about.

I think founding at least one religion in the Capital is a must. In the long run, the capital will become a cash cow. That will be the religion we want to spread.

Another thing to consider is that our first Great Person will almost certainly be a Great Merchant since Sid’s Sushi Headquarters generates +1 Great Merchant Point per turn. Looking at the Great People Tech thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952) we find that we could potentially use it to bulb Metal Casing (1008 beakers) or Code of Laws (783 beakers) if we research properly. I doubt bulbing Code of Laws on turn 100 will be early enough to be first to the tech. If I research Polytheism to try to found Hinduism, losing Confucianism might not be a big deal. But if I can’t be first to it, then might as well bulb Metal Casing instead since it is a more expensive tech to research.

I haven’t mentioned Stone or Marble since those are usually a “wait and see” approach. I love an early Oracle with access to Marble, but otherwise I avoid it. Likewise, I usually try to build the Hanging Gardens and Pyramids if I have access to Stone.

In this particular game, the Great Lighthouse and Colossus will be very valuable due to the number of coastal cities we will have on an Archipelago map.


Ancient Era
The Vikings start with Fishing and Hunting. If I want a shot at an early religion, I will need Mysticism immediately. The map is Archipelago, so I doubt I have a neighbor. I probably won’t need to worry about real defenses until the Barbs appear.


We don’t start with a Scout, but rather a Sid’s Sushi Executive. He has 2 movement, so I can use him for a little early scouting, but cannot afford to lose this unit, so I will need to be very careful, probably parking him on a hill for a little fog busting.

Sid’s Sushi Executive pops a hut for Sailing. Nice…

In 3775 BC, Mysticism is discovered.

Buddhism is founded in a distant land in 3770 BC. Fortunately, I was headed for Polytheism. And in 3375 BC, Polytheism is discovered and Hinduism is founded in Nidaros.

Here is the Satellite View after some recon.


Uppsala is founded in 2675 BC, northwest of Nidaros. It is in range of one Clam tile, one Gem tile, and one Sugar tile. Nidaros’ Refined culture (750+) allows the Gem tile to be worked without any cultural growth from the new settlement. That might be helpful since I am not planning on building any Missionaries for a while.


In 1900 BC, Genghis Khan’s Work Boat makes an appearance from the south.

In 1574 BC, Haithabu is founded to the southwest of Nidaros. It only starts with the Stone in city range, but will pick up a Gem tile and the Copper tile once the borders expand. Since this city has no food tiles, I decide that I would eventually use the power of Sushi to feed this new settlement. The Corporate Office will also pop the borders very quickly. A century later, Tacitus reveals that I am the most ass-backwards civilization. Go Vikings!


Birka is founded in 800 BC, southeast of Nidaros. It can immediately work a Clam and Stone tile. There will be another good spot to the southwest, but since I don’t yet have Animal Husbandry for the Pasture, I will get there a little later.


In 365 BC, I finally decide to put the power of fish to work and spread the good word of Sid and his Sushi to Haithabu. A Great Merchant is born soon after which is when I realize that I cannot bulb Metal Casing without knowing Currency. Doh! Currency is a cheaper tech so I decide to hold onto the Great Merchant until I get around to Currency, which will be soon enough.

In 335 BC, Machiavelli completes his greatest work, and it’s a doozy, The Largest Civilization of the World. “Puny” is the adjective used to describe our not yet quite so glorious civilization. I suspect my love for the whip has something to do with that number.

In 350 BC, the first devastating news arrives, “The Colossus has been built in a far away land”. I had just begun to research Currency so I was nowhere near being able to build the Colossus since I would also need to build a Forge first. Needless to say that whoever grabbed The Oracle very early in the game (with Marble no doubt) scooped Metal Casing. I don’t think I had a realistic chance at it.


I did end up building the Great Lighthouse and the Hanging Gardens at some early stage in the game. I built the Lighthouse first and the Gardens second (once I had access to Stone).

In 260 BC, “Our herbalists have discovered a new plant that holds great promise for health treatments. However, tests on human subjects are required to find the right mixture.” I have three options:
1) “Forget these tests. Anything worth knowing has already been discovered so why risk needless death?”
+1 happiness in all cities for 10 turns
2) “Alright, try limited tests, but only on non-essential citizens.”
-1 happiness temporarily in all cities, 20 % chance: -1 population in all cities, 35% chance: +1 health in all cities
3) “Health is the bedrock to world domination! Run full scale tests on all but the youngest and weakest among us.”
-2 happiness temporarily in all cities, 50 % chance: -1 population in all cities, 90% chance: +2 health in all cities




I decided to go with “world domination”. Because this game would have many high pop cities due to all the ocean food resources plus Sid’s Sushi, I figured the Health would be a better long-term advantage. I did score the +2 Health, but also lost 2 pop in the process.

Bjorgvin is founded sometime before AD times. It’s a monster of a city with 2 Clams, 1 Crab, 1 Pig and 1 Horse tile. It also has 3 Plains Hills nearby for great production to complement it’s abundant food supplies. This town would eventually build the Moai Statues to become my best production town.



10 AD, First Scoring Round
AD times have been reached, and thus the first round of scoring is upon us. I had expanded Sid’s Sushi to Haithabu a while back and also expanded it to Birka just before the dawn of some other religion’s savior (hey, don’t blame me, I’m Hindu).

Nidaros’ city screen does in fact reveal +12g from the Sushi Headquarters (+4g per Sushi-loving town). It also reveals a rather measly 5 Sushi resources. I really mistimed two Work Boats and hence lost out on some extra points. Losing The Colossus really made me play a lot faster with a lot mess micro and attention to scoring detail.


5 points: EACH city (domestic or foreign) containing Sid's Sushi Corporation in 5 AD — 3 cities = 15 points
2 points: EACH "sushi" resource (fish/clams/crabs/rice) you control in 5 AD — 5 resources = 10 points

Please note that due to a typo, “10 AD” was actually the first AD game year on Epic speed.

In 415 AD, my efforts for a recount finally produce an update from Machiavelli. I am now up to 4th place (out of 6… doh!) and earn the superlative titled of “Mediocre”. At least we’re moving up in the world…

By 505 AD, I had built Angkor Wat in Nidaros. It’s not a game breaking Wonder, but it allowed me to run 4 Priest specialists in an effort to get a Great Prophet as my next Great Person. That would allow me to build the Hindu shrine and considerably increase my income.


Roskilde is founded shortly thereafter to the west of Nidaros. It will pick up the remaining 3 Sugar tiles which will give it a nice food and income supply.


Brennus declares war on me in 880 AD. He probably saw where I stood on the power graph and figured I would be easy pickings. The fact that we were of different religions didn’t help either. Even though I didn’t have too many troops, I had a decent amount of cash on hand so I wasn’t too worried about an attack. I expected to have a little more notice of approaching ships. Alas, 3 Galleons showed up with almost no warning. I was left with 2 turns to get some more troops to the capital. Fortunately, those boats headed south before deciding to land the troops near the capital. That bought me an extra turn and allowed the city to be saved. Had the AI head straight for the capital and attacked it amphibiously, it probably would have taken it. Once this disaster was averted, the rest of the war posed no problems, although it lasted quite a long time without much additional conflict.

Bjorgvin miners are rewarded for their diligent work when a new source of Gold is discovered in one of the nearby mines. With the forges in all the major cities, this leads to a great increases in happiness among the wealthy. And ummm… the miners actually get the shaft while the empire reaps the benefits of this great discovery.


Several decades later, grief strikes the empire as the Apostolic Palace is built by a heathen civilization just before the glorious Hindu people can complete it. I wasn’t necessarily trying for a diplomatic win, but it would have been nice to have the option. The production bonus also would have been nice. One thing was certain, I had no chance to score a good Diplomatic Victory now. It was going to have to be Cultural or Spaceship. Since more people would probably vie for Cultural, I had a better chance at earning a top 3 in the Spaceship department, but that would also mean playing an extra couple hundred turns… ummm, how about no?

In 1060 AD, Herodotus picks up on Machiavelli’s population demographics works. Something, that history timeline makes a lot of sense, but I’m not sure how to explain it. I’m sill stuck in “Mediocre” 4th place.

Somewhere around 1265 AD, Tonsberg was established just east of Nidaros across the sea. It will have access to 1 Fish, 1 Clam, and 3 sources of Spice. I probably should have settled there long ago, but there was a pesky Barbarian city in the way. I actually opted to raze the Barb town and settle one square to the west in order to pick up the extra food tile that would have otherwise gone wasted. It also meant settling on the Spice which gave me the instant happiness (that I may or may not have needed).


In 1270 AD, I capture the town of Kusbans from the Barbs and realize the turn later that the bastard Celts had almost beat me to it! Good for them. That will teach them to try to sneak attack me in the dark of night! I am rewarded with this new city by having Judaism, a foreign religion, spread there. I had only founded Hinduism, Confucianism, and Taoism. This gave me access to a fourth religion which would be nice since I was almost locked into a Cultural (or Spaceship) Victory at this point.


In 1330 AD, Gilgamesh strikes again and builds the Sistine Chapel a mere two turns before I can complete it. Losing this Wonder will delay my Cultural Victory quite a bit. Gilgamesh had been a huge thorn in my side as I had discovered it was his Sumerian empire that had also bested me to The Oracle and The Colossus. Damn you Gilgamesh! On a not completely unrelated note, the Sumerian mother goddess Inanna, also a goddess of Love and War, and Queen of Heaven and Earth had said: "As for me, Inanna, / Who will plow my vulva? / Who will plow my high field? / Who will plow my wet ground?" Got to give some props to the Sumerians… They were well ahead of their time when it came to erotica in literature.

In 1395 AD, I was presented with the following quest:


I didn’t actively try to pursue it, but loosely built a few Colosseums. In the end I think I forfeited this quest when I reached the Modern Era with Radio. In these quests, I never know if existing buildings count towards the quest or not. Oh well… I didn’t have the Statue of Zeus and I doubt the reward would have been anything other than happiness that I would not need.

In 1405 AD, Herodotus finally stops wondering about size and starts wondering about function. The Viking empire is finally recognized as “Glorious” for its sophisticated culture. It’s not that size doesn’t matter… but a little finesse goes a long way.


1500 AD, Second Scoring Round
I really could have planned things a lot better here as well. I could of easily had two extra Sushi cities and a couple of extra Sushi resources, but having had drunk a lot that night, I managed to miscount by 20 turns (thinking that in 1360 AD I still had 48 turns rather than 28… a large difference). I managed to rush a lot of things in the end and was whipping like crazy once I realized my mistake. Here is what I managed to end up with:



2 points: EACH city (domestic or foreign) containing Sid's Sushi Corporation in 1500 AD — 13 cities = 26 points
1 points: EACH "sushi" resource (fish/clams/crabs/rice) you control in 1500 AD — 19 resources = 19 points

Here’s a shot of Sigtuna in 1500 AD. It is size 3 and boasts +20 food/turn which is pretty sick.


At some point, I am presented with another quest:


In 1740 AD, I complete this quest and am awarded one of the following:
1) “With such a large force of Musketmen working together, additional training for these units can be achieved.”
Every Musketman is promoted to Pinch (+25% vs Gunpowder units)
2) “Leverage our military advantage to collect harsh taxes from our feudal lords and their counties.”
Receive 640g. -1 happiness temporarily in all cities.
(This option was grayed out so I assume it was only available to players currently using the Vassalage civic.)
3) “Enjoy our Golden Age of Muskets.”
(I assume that this option was only available since I had completed the Taj Mahal.)




Needless to say I chose option 3. I had also built the Mausoleum a while back so all my Golden Ages lasted longer. There were 4 Golden Ages in total: Taj Mahal, 1 Great Person, Muskets (who knew?), 2 Great People.


Cultural Victory in 1804 AD

No prize here. Probably my latest Cultural Victory ever. So many things went wrong. Towards the end, I was probably a little too demoralized to be able to really focus. I probably adopted the Caste System later than I should have, and I definitely adopted Pacifism later than I should have. Then, I forget to get my other high pop cities working Artists so I had to cut off all their specialists while my main three cities produced Great Artists. I was pretty much a disaster. Of course, missing the Sistine Chapel by a couple of turns is what really killed me. It’s a good thing I was still a ways from developing the Manhattan Project or there would have been ICMBs flying for sure.




Final Score
I never declared war. I was attacked by Brennus in what turned out to be a pretty long war; mostly since I refused to give up much gold to sign peace. But it was an otherwise peaceful game. During the war with Brennus, I did not have the forces to do anything more than defend, so I never took any cities.

5 points: EACH city (domestic or foreign) containing Sid's Sushi Corporation in 10 AD — 3 cities = 15 points
2 points: EACH "sushi" resource (fish/clams/crabs/rice) you control in 10 AD — 5 resources = 10 points
2 points: EACH city (domestic or foreign) containing Sid's Sushi Corporation in 1500 AD — 13 cities = 26 points
1 points: EACH "sushi" resource (fish/clams/crabs/rice) you control in 1500 AD — 19 resources = 19 points

Total: (15 + 10 + 26 + 19) x 2 = 140 points

I would be very surprised to make Top 3 Cultural Victory. My only hope is that everyone decided to go for a Diplomatic Victory (via the AP).


At the end, I was half tempted to try to replay the beginning of the game to see if it was possible to beat Gilgamesh to The Colossus if I bee-lined Priesthood and then started The Oracle (without Marble). But after pausing for a moment, I decided I would rather go blow shit up in Unreal Tournament III.

[LKendter]

How many Sushi resources did you have at the end of the game? With so few people reporting so far you may have a top three for seafood.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

very nice report and good pre-game analysis! Too bad you didn't realize that only spreading Sushi's to foreign cities would have avoided financial problems; that might have let you reevaluate the importance of CoL a bit.

I also didn't realize that an odd number of Sushi resources is optimal; I hadn't looked this up and believed it to be the other way round, i.e. I carefully left my Sushi resources at an even number in the beginning.

The early Colossus is really amazing. Good thing I didn't care for wonders...

Have you checked whether some AI was in Mercantilism in 1510AD, screwing up the Sushi count?

-Kylearan

[Dreylin]

Hey Muaziz, nice report. I also liked your home-island dotmap which was identical to mine (if founded in different order).

One comment; would you consider not putting your results in the thread title? It's a personal preference, but I like some suspense when reading reports and they lose a little interest for me if I know the results going in.

[sooooo]

Nice. I was expecting a lot of cultural victories in this game. The extra food from sushi + caste system + pacifism should create a lot of culture.

[Muaziz]

Originally Posted by LKendter

How many Sushi resources did you have at the end of the game? With so few people reporting so far you may have a top three for seafood.

Wow, I had completely forgotten about that part of the final scoring. I'll have to go back and check, but I doubt that it is much higher than my 1500 AD total. I went on a crazy build and spread phase as 1500 AD approached. After that, I spent most of time trying to max culture and build up some more troops (which were lacking pretty badly during this mad rush).

Originally Posted by Kylearan

Too bad you didn't realize that only spreading Sushi's to foreign cities would have avoided financial problems

I did think about that a bit, but I had heard it was a LOT more expensive to settle Executives in foreign cities. Since I hadn't done the research, I wasn't sure exactly whether it was a viable strategy and whether I would be able to afford it early. And the only benefit you receive is the +4g in the capital. You won't get any financial multipliers for a while, and later on, Mercantilism and State Property negate it. Basically, I didn't know much about how all the foreign stuff worked so I decided not to mess with it.

Originally Posted by Kylearan

Have you checked whether some AI was in Mercantilism in 1510AD, screwing up the Sushi count?

I did not, but since I had no foreign corps, I did not think this would matter at all. I have the saves so I can go back and double check if needed, but I am quite sure that the count is correct.

Originally Posted by Dreylin

One comment; would you consider not putting your results in the thread title? It's a personal preference, but I like some suspense when reading reports and they lose a little interest for me if I know the results going in.

Not a problem, I will try not to do that in the future.

Originally Posted by sooooo

Nice. I was expecting a lot of cultural victories in this game. The extra food from sushi + caste system + pacifism should create a lot of culture.

I was expecting the same thing. Although, a Diplo AP Victory would certainly be the quickest way if one could manage the politics well enough.

After the 1500 AD mark, the main reason I went Cultural is because it would require the least amount of work. At that point, I essentially felt that the game was over, except for the fat lady singing. Even if someone declared war on me, I was sure that I would be able to defend myself, and at the very least, hold onto all my cities on the starting landmass.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Muaziz

I did think about that a bit, but I had heard it was a LOT more expensive to settle Executives in foreign cities.

Ah yes, you're right - I totally forgot about that (it's been some week I played this game...). Having to save for the expenses of spreading Sushi to foreign cities indeed slowed down my research, but I still think it was worth it for the short timeline until 1510AD.

And the only benefit you receive is the +4g in the capital. You won't get any financial multipliers for a while, and later on, Mercantilism and State Property negate it.

Yes, but if you try to maximize the score this doesn't matter much - except that with my method, I might not get bonus points for a fastest finish.

Did you have problems spreading Sushi's because of the 50% science rule, as Lee had? Although from your city counts I guess not, but I'm curious.

-Kylearan

[Muaziz]

Originally Posted by Kylearan

Ah yes, you're right - I totally forgot about that (it's been some week I played this game...). Having to save for the expenses of spreading Sushi to foreign cities indeed slowed down my research, but I still think it was worth it for the short timeline until 1510AD.

In hindsight, I think a hybrid approach might have been best. Better expansion early on with some domestic spreading. Then massive foreign spreading later on.

Originally Posted by Kylearan

Yes, but if you try to maximize the score this doesn't matter much - except that with my method, I might not get bonus points for a fastest finish.

You are absolutely right, and you will probably have the highest 1500 AD scoring. In fact, looking at your points, I can't even beat you even if I get the full bonus for first Cultural Victory

Although I do like how I started (other than losing the Colossus stupid early), I definitely should have spread Sushi's to other civs. I had gotten into this dometic-only funk, which was sub-optimal from a scoring perspective.

Originally Posted by Kylearan

Did you have problems spreading Sushi's because of the 50% science rule, as Lee had? Although from your city counts I guess not, but I'm curious.

Not at all. Even in 1500 AD when I made a mad push to get Sushi's into every one of my cities, I was still running at 60% Science. I think I had a city or two building Wealth, but that was only because they had nothing else useful to build. I was also sitting on 3k+ in gold in 1500 AD.

[Muaziz]

I'd like to make a formal protest to the Civilization Gods. It seems that every single player reporting managed to build the Colossus. Yet in my game, it fell long before any of the other players managed to complete it.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by Muaziz

I'd like to make a formal protest to the Civilization Gods. It seems that every single player reporting managed to build the Colossus. Yet in my game, it fell long before any of the other players managed to complete it.

It fell in 350BC in your game, ouch!
I only started building it in 375BC!
I hadn't really prioritised it, but it was a nice wonder to get with the financial trait.

Nice report, quite glad I didn't go for a cultural victory as I'd never have approached your finish date! I didn't really realise the cultural benefit Sid gave until quite far into the game....