[spoiler] How Not To Play Civ5, by Azza. Stories of a Siamese Skyrim.

[Azza]

Found the Grand Mesa.

[Azza]

I took a lot of pictures today.

First, finished off Liberty.




Took a great engineer as my free GP, considered burning him on Chichen Itza, but would rather Petra in Markarth. The free ampitheatre pushed me over the line, since it'll help me prepare for Wats.

Also, as you can see in this next shot, only Serdoa has entered the Medieval Age, and he went via Theology. So slow building Chichen Itza is a possibility.




Ichabod and Oledavy haven't finished Tradition yet, which is very interesting. I pushed pretty hard on early expansion, and have 4 semi-developed cities now, and still have a better SP accumulation. My land grab is definitely paying dividends though.




Dominant crop yield (thanks ToA), best MFG, competitive GNP, 2nd in pop (despite not having a Tradition fueled capital!), greatest power, most techs, and room in my happy cap. Honestly, I'm a little apprehensive about how well I've started, it puts a lot of pressure on me to take advantage of this position. I'm not used to doing well!

Tech tree.




With the exception of Sailing I've researched everything out of picture to the left. Philosophy, Theology and Education come next, quicker I get my free Wats the better.

My capital.




That's the SoZ due to finish on the interturn. Will be nice to have when I get into a position I can really go on the offensive.

Military overview.




That's 6 CBs, a spear and 2 warriors on the border between myself and pindicator, a sentry scout around La Venta, and an exploring warrior (currently healing) near the Grand Mesa.

An overview of the founded pantheons.




Everyone has one now. I'm a bit dubious of Jowy's decision, after all, it is a Pangaea map, and seafood is relatively slow and expensive to hook up.

Finally, someone seems to have had success in war.




Serdoa went from last to first in land and has a size 1 city that's clearly not part of the default Mayan names. I strongly suspect Jowy has lost Novac to Serdoa.

[T-hawk]

Six CBs, is that for another assault on pindicator's capital? You attacking with that or adding more units?

Your leads could be because Liberty does develop faster than Tradition in the early game. We'll see where things go once the Tradition players get rolling with their free aqueducts. Although setting up Legalism for free Wats looks like a pretty good play too.

[Azza]

If pindicator was an AI, I'd push forward with my current army. But from memory he has at least 2 CBs and 2 War Chariots floating around, added to the hitting power of his capital, the mobility advantage given its his own lands, and the less than ideal terrain for my army to set up any attack. If I could set up a western flank with OBs through Sentenza (Ichabod's city) I might be able to hit pindicator's capital without superior tech, but I think focusing on infrastructure, while projecting the appearance of a militaristic gameplan, is better for me at the moment.

Liberty may develop faster, but surely with the free monuments and less cities the Tradition civs should be finishing their trees first? Maybe I'm underestimating the effects of having had Monaco and Venice as friends for the past 20-ish turns.

[T-hawk]

Yeah, in my experience in single player, Tradition always completes faster than Liberty. Typical on normal speed is early turn 80's versus mid-late 90's. City-state culture does matter a lot. Of course, two of your rivals have finished Tradition, only half of them haven't.

What does your proposed Petra location look like? Don't see a good view of it here.

[Azza]

What does your proposed Petra location look like? Don't see a good view of it here.

Here's a shot of it when it was founded.




It's not a great Petra city, but 4 desert hills including 1 with sheep is solid, plus it makes the most of all that desert and denies a rival who could build a better Petra.

[Azza]

Ichabod is building Chichen Itza




From some very quick counting of tiles, he has roughly the same hammer potential as me, but started a turn or two ago. So I'm building a shrine in Solitude instead.

And my demographics.




Who's #1? I'm #1!

[Azza]

Solitude is going along quite nicely. I'm running a tad short on gold at the moment, so need the market.




Demographics. Still leading most categories, Serdoa has slipped past on literacy for the moment though.




Planning a city 2W of the island deer to pick up Ivory.




Spotted another CS. I'm going to guess it's Genoa, since I think it's the right blueish colour and we're due a Mercantile CS.

And big spoiler of city screens and overview shots rather than taking up a massive amount of space for them.

Windhelm, Whiterun and Markarth are almost ready for Legalism Wats.



Signed peace with Pindicator immediately after generating the GG that Valletta wanted. Shame it wasn't one of the CS I get a boost from, but I'll take some extra units.



The centre of this subcontinent. I have most of the control over here at the moment. If the inner hex around the grassland 1E of my southern warrior remains clear after I've claimed the ivory, I'm considering plopping a city down there.



The Ichabod and Pindicator holdings.

[Azza]

And we're back moving again.





I'm probably going to keep posting this while it looks good for me.




Serdoa agreed to mutually open embassies. I think that's Hagia Sophia he's building in there. Is anyone able to confirm that's the build graphic for it? (on the southwest edge of the city)




I'm hoping to claim the tile where that CB is situated, since that'll allow me to drop a citadel on the gold in pindicator's territory, which would be a massive boon for a future war.




7 turns til I open Tradition. With Theology finished and Education up next, Wats are on their way.

[T-hawk]

Is anyone able to confirm that's the build graphic for it? (on the southwest edge of the city)

Not I. I never thought to spy on wonder building via build graphics until seeing it in this game. Don't know which one that is.

I'm hoping to claim the tile where that CB is situated, since that'll allow me to drop a citadel on the gold in pindicator's territory, which would be a massive boon for a future war.

That is stupendously evil.