Old Harry puts it all on purple

[Old Harry]

To be honest it took me about three reads through before I had a vague clue what you were supposed to do with this adventure, but once I had that clue, it sounded interesting...

First up leader choices with their handicap:
Victoria 0 (Financial)
Emancipation means cottages grow faster meaning the fin bonus isn't so pronounced
Joao 5 (Expansive)
Environmentalism means exp is less useful, cheap granary and workers are good though
Suleiman 8 (Philosophical)
No caste/republic means specialist economy less useful
Augustus 12 (Industrious)
Wonders for culture? Yes please!
Catherine 15 (Creative)
Cheap Libraries and theatres + extra culture anyway - yes please!
Justinian 18 (Spiritual)
Can't change civics or religion so this is pointless
Julius 20 (Organized)
I don't think civic costs are going to be a problem - probably won't build many cities
Charlemagne 25 (Protective)
Ha ha!
Cyrus 30 (Charismatic)
I like being happy.
Genghis 33 (Aggressive)
Always peace?

So it's between Augustus, Cyrus and Catharine, and I think that wonders will be more useful for culture than the extra happy or the extra culture.

Augustus it is then!

t0 Start with Aggriculture,
t7 Popped sailing (doh!) from a hut
t8 Start Bronze Working
t12 45 gold from a hut
t16 Warrior eaten by a bear - no more huts for me
t21 Bronze Working in, mysticism next for Stonehenge (delays settler, but gets a hell of a lot of culture - I wonder if this is a terrible idea)
t27 Start Meditation
t31 Finished replacement warrior - start on Stonehenge
t32 Start Wheel -> Pottery
t40 Three chops come in to finish Stonehenge
t45 First settler - ouch, this is very late. Wonder how that will affect things

t46 Start Priesthood
t47 Settle Antium
t50 Start Oracle in Antium, Start Writing

t55 Finished Oracle, took Metal Casting, couldn't think of anything more suitable...
t57 Start on Animal Handling
t62 Start on Maths
t64 Settle Cumae
t69 Settle Neapolis
t77 Trade MC for alphabet and poly with Fred, then get hunting and iron working from hatty for 4 small techs, will build temple of artemis for real/failgold as there's nothing else for Antium to do right now. Discovered I placed Cumae on Iron so no cheap warriors for MP any more.
t78 Budhism appears in Rome
t80 Settle Ravenna - and the economy has crashed - I'm getting some cottages up and will turn research off until libraries in Rome and Cumae are in place

t87 Got a Great Prophet - not really what I want, but I'll settle him in Rome.
t91 Temple of Artemis finished in Antium - I want a settler quick for the gems and sugar up north - then I've got some more fill-in spots to settle, but none of the rest are urgent, so I'll wait for the economy to recover...
t92 Calander in - I want Aesthetics and Literature next, but need currency to stop the economy crashing. So far I've built wonders in Antium and Rome, so to get culture victory I need to use another city - I was thinking Neapolis, but just realised Ravenna in the NE has way better production potential for future wonders, so I think I'll put MOM in there.
Confuc is also founded this turn - I'm going to need to get some of these religions. Also Chicago just appeared where I wanted a city. :@

t93 I've got tech visability on Roosevelt - the only other ind leader and he's getting Calendar in 4, meaning I need to hurry MOM
t100 Should get MOM by t113 - going for Aesthetics now, for the great library
t101 I'm quite big

t104 Microed the MOM to finish t110
t106 Literature in, I want music for Sistine and the artist GP
t110 Yay! MOM! I'm the only one with lit and the Great Lib is due t118 - pretty confident I'll get it.

t114 Music is in and Cervantes is born. And I'm not sure if a great work (4000) or settling is better - settling is +24 per turn with another 12 for the hermitage, and six for each cathedral, broadcast tower, broadway, hollywood and rock n roll built - those last four will be ages yet, but I should get a hermitage and a couple of cathedrals pretty soon, so 48 will pay back by about t200. Will settle in Antium where I'm going to struggle to get cottages up and running for the culture slider later.
t117 So sistine gives +5 culture per turn for state religion buildings. Are you sure I'm not allowed a quick burst out of free religion Swiss Pauli? Anyway drama is in and it's a beeline to Nationalism next please. I want Taoism though, so Philosophy first (Hatty and Mansa could get it, but I doubt they're interested...)
t118 TGL built in Rome - tempted to trade for code of laws with Mansa, but he wants music for it and sistine isn't finished yet...
t125 Got Taoism this turn, but it appeared in Neapolis - I did some research after and found out it's cos that was the most recently founded city with the least number of religions already in. Doh! I wanted it in Ravenna
t135 I'm spreading religion around and building cathedrals now - lacking Hinduism, Islam and Christianity - I could plant some new cities to see if they can be attracted. Almost fully cottaged Rome and Ravena and farmed Antium. I wonder when to switch tech off and go for the slider?
t138 Maybe all these cottages aren't that great - how will I make cash to sustain culture slider? Build wealth in other cities? Anyhow I'll try to get the Parthanon in Antium, just for fun...
t140 Nationalism in. Tech off. Which cities to build the Hermitage and Taj in? Why is there no marble? So I think I need the globe in Rome (for artist slots), Hermitage in Antium (most base culture) and Taj in Ravenna (wish I'd got Taoism there) and then lots of artist bombs... Will save some cash to get the culture when there is more infrastructure in place.
Rome:

Antium

Ravenna

t146 taj due t157
t149 Missed the Parthanon by 6 turns, should have built it before the hermitage:@
t150 Turning culture on - Looks like I'll be there by t300!
155 Taj is built - got a great artist out of Antium at ridiculously low odds, I need six to get Ravenna to finish at the same time as Rome (approx t270 at the moment). running artists in all three cities now, building cathedrals wherever possible. Chicago and Jute both now have more roman culture than their own. Oh, and I've just been overtaken by gandhi on score.
t157 GS born Rome - 7 turns per GP at the moment

t164 GA born Rome - wahay! off to Ravenna to bomb
t171 Eta for victory - t250
t173 GS born Rome
t176 Finished Statue of Liberty for more specialists
t185 Current eta for culture victory is t231 - if I can get two more artists and this golden age lasts forever that is...
t191 Last turn of golden age and Chicago just joined us the magnificent Roman empire.

t192 If I get two more GAs then end date is t235, if I get four it's t226
t198 Just realised that windmills get more bang for the buck than mines, will start building those now!:blush:
t213 Nearly lost to Ghandi! How did that happen - it's always peace, why would they vote for him?

t217 Arse! Got a Great Scientist - with 66% odds for an artist, so I'm looking at a t240 finish now. I'm going for max food at Rome now to allow more specialists.

t228 Rome and Antium both go legendary, Ravenna is still 5k away from legendary. If the GP due in 7 turns in Rome is an artist I'll finish t235, otherwise it'll be t239.
t235 Wahay! Oh balls, he can't get to Raverna and bomb this turn

t236 Wahay! Hang on, it hasn't given me the winning message - do I have to wait til next turn?

t237 Wahay! So how did I do? -12 for Augustus makes a final score of 225



Afterthoughs
It'd be good if someone can point out if I got these decisions right or wrong:
- I wonder if I should have carried on teching to broadway/hollywood/rock n roll before going 100% culture slider. I hadn't realised how much not being in Caste System/Representation/Pacifism would slow great people generation down. Perhaps Phi would have been good after all?
- I only went for seven cities as I thought that more would hinder the culture rate in the three important cities.
- I think I should have gone for a city with more food for the national epic (although it could only ever make five artists so maybe not?)

I do know I should have found out how to make taoism found in Ravenna and should have gone for windmills a lot earlier, but what else did I get wrong? :P

Anyway thanks Swiss Pauli, really interesting to have such a different emphasis to what I normally play.

[T-hawk]

Afterthoughs
It'd be good if someone can point out if I got these decisions right or wrong:
- I wonder if I should have carried on teching to broadway/hollywood/rock n roll before going 100% culture slider. I hadn't realised how much not being in Caste System/Representation/Pacifism would slow great people generation down. Perhaps Phi would have been good after all?

No. Broadway is way too far on technology. A good culture victory stops tech with Music, Liberalism, and Nationalism (Hermitage). The Great People weren't a big deal either. The three cities should each reach around 1300 culture/turn, which means each artist for 4000 culture is only one turn's production. You do want to get artists from the first few cheap GP slots and when they can settle early enough to produce more than 4000 total. But beyond six or seven, more artists hardly matter.

- I only went for seven cities as I thought that more would hinder the culture rate in the three important cities.

You want 9 cities, so you can build 9 of each temple and thus 3 of each cathedral. I often go to 10 or 11 to have a little wiggle room on scheduling the temple builds which can get cumbersome.

- I think I should have gone for a city with more food for the national epic (although it could only ever make five artists so maybe not?)

Not necessary for artists. More food is always good; here it would have meant working more hills to build temples and missionaries faster. Your city that needed more food was Ravenna - a legendary should be much bigger than size 11, ideally 18-20, although on this map there weren't really any sites for size 16+ besides the capital and your Arretium. Speaking of which, why in the world wasn't your Arretium legendary? Triple gems, two food resources, and lots of river made by far the best site on the map.

I do know I should have found out how to make taoism found in Ravenna and should have gone for windmills a lot earlier, but what else did I get wrong? :P

Actually I often prefer my holy cities in a non-legendary. The 5 cpt doesn't mean much, and a non-legendary can better focus on missionaries and cash buildings if you get the shrine.

1635 AD is still pretty good though, most folks who haven't extensively practiced culture end up in the 1800s. Thanks for sharing!

[Old Harry]

You want 9 cities, so you can build 9 of each temple and thus 3 of each cathedral. I often go to 10 or 11 to have a little wiggle room on scheduling the temple builds which can get cumbersome.

Ah, I was going to ask why you mentioned that in your report... seems obvious now that you say it! :blush:

Speaking of which, why in the world wasn't your Arretium legendary? Triple gems, two food resources, and lots of river made by far the best site on the map.

I'd got building wonders down as my primary way to get culture and didn't think I'd be able to build them there - I hadn't thought about the implications of cash rushing as I never seem to do much of it in normal games.

Thanks for the pointers, maybe I'll do better next time

[Swiss Pauli]

Glad you enjoyed the game, Old Harry, and thanks for taking the time to report