[Spoilers] TheArchduke thinks it is all a dream as Japan

[TheArchduke]

@pindicator:

Good to hear!

Turn 19

Moving into place, astrology finishes, HS laid down.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 20 is in and I finally got a bit of a break from private and work life to give this a good look over and analyze the situation.

First of all the players and the civs.

Cornflakes as Ghandi

   

India is an excellent civ and choice with Ghandi augmenting its key strengths. Basically India is deterrence. Slow moving Varus will beat off a strong attack if the technological and numerical gap is not that large (which it seldom is). The Stepwell is a nice little boost to housing. Add the +5 faith for peaceful religions, double WE (for more information please do check out PBEM 4 I think. WE can be nasty. + 2 Missionary spreads, religious pressure from trade routes.

In one word, I think Ghandi is one of the strongest choices in any game. If you can manage to drag things out and balance the board, you are in excellent shape. You do however do not have any boost to being aggressive or your industry so a religious victory is the best aim for Ghandi.

This is Cornflakes´ first real PBEM in CIV 6. Anything before that was Duels played against me. In a nutshell if you let Cornflakes enter the lategame, you are in trouble. Analytical, methodical with a good grip of the game´s systems, he is a dangerous opponent. He is not an aggressive player but compared to me, most players are not. I am not expecting an early war or rush, but a turtle strategy and an immediate rush for defensive forces if I am bordering Cornflakes. The worst that could happen is if I border Hungary and Cornflakes and Scooter have their own part of the map to play with. As scooter plays China, I would imagine both players singing kumbayah and holding hands, whilst I am stuck with Hungary. Avoid if possible. Predictable choice, all other civs were aggressive. So up next:

Scooter as Qin

   

Like Ghandi, a turtlers dream, but not for religion but for wonderbuilding. The inspiration and eureka boost is small but noticeable, and the ability to buildercharge wonders is just great. Get Pyramids, get liang, serfdom and go nuts. I think both the great wall and the crouching tiger is underestimated as I have not seen them used so far. I would. You can very easily stop an attack in its track with the Great Wall and it provides gold income to boot. 

So, once again, drag the game out and wonder your way to victory (by basically hitting all the sweetspots that enables your economy to run away). I expect Stonehenge (too good not to do) and Pyramids to be the priorities, closely followed by the Colosseum and the ToA. It will be difficult to snipe a wonder. I would suggest doing a culture victory via Tourism. Get Stonehenge, get Defender of the Faith, build walls and laugh at the rest of the players. You can crush China early and I would highly recommend everyone doing so, but I got no edge. I could get GGs with my half price encampments, but by now I lack the element of suprise. Still if China is nearby, kill it before I can get going.

Now Scooter, no idea who that guy is personally, but he seems to be around since forever. He attracted most of the peanut gallery, whilst I seem (thanks again to my aggressive playstyle and concise reports not to attract any dedlurker.) The problem is I am basically playing against 3-4 people and I think I saw Sullla over there as well. Suprising choice, I think Mapuche is the best bet you can do, check my small PBEM 15 thread as for why. This will be tough. Basically if he is nearby kill him with fire.

Alhambram as Mathias

   

Should have taken Korea. But let´s see. Hungary. The name of the game is levies, so CS are a risk and liability against Hungary. I would highly recommend not keeping CS near you around or if so pump all your envoys into the one you REALLY want to have. +2 envoys for levying is crazy strong. +50% production for river districts as well. 
But that´s it. Hungary is a one trick pony by using levies and quick districts. Granted this is damn strong, but you are not very versatile. The thermal bath and the 2 unique units are nothing to write home about. +3 CS does not cut it. If you can manage to get an alliance.

Alhambram I already faced him in a duel and in the PBEM area. A decent enough player who seems to build military only when he has to. Hungary is an odd choice. The levied troops can be strong, but only if augmented with a hyperaggressive push. This means 2-3 levies at the same time and a normal attack. Basically try to overwhelm the other guy. Early and quick aggression is a problem. If Hungary is next to me I would suggest killing all CS with extreme prejudice (what I normally do) and keep exactly the most useful around and PUMP envoys into it. Basically if he is nearby kill him with fire.

I think I can see a pattern emerging.

[TheArchduke]

Plan for now, as I seem to run out of time once again.

Get 2 HS for an early religion.
Get 1-2 campi to be competitive.
Get 2-3 encampments.

See if we can manage to kill someone early.

If not, we will establish megacities and try to grow away from the competition. (with my skills doubtful)

[williams482]

Out of curiosity, why did you pick that specific location for your second city?

[TheArchduke]

@williams going into detail when I can, just uploading screenies now. Teaser I moved.

   

As can be seen I moved.

   

The city will be founded next turn where the settler stands. The logic behind this is clear if you see the strategic map.
I need a coastal city in the east. My capital and the settlement at the isthmus in the south both need harbours to enable me to build ships. With Bandar Brunei a definite target and hungary probably to my east or southeast I want the sea to have a japanese naval presence and an early one at that. 

The northern city site right up where my capital is, is rather subpar and a backfill city. Coupled that west of Zanzibar could be another sea and I may be able to use ships I build east also west. And again the west holds no good city sites.

Why the concentration on early coastal cities? Because you need to chop out a decent number of triremes and quadriremes early to be in way competitive on the seas. Chalk that up the drama of my russian playthrough in an earlier PBEM.

So we need to move to be able to establish a coastal city. Foggazing shows that marker "1" and "2" are possible, with 1 being able to be aqueducted making that city somewhat attractive in the long run.

Also City #2 can work the 4/1 tile immediately. The HS site will stay the same across the river, next to the mountain. Defensibility would have have been better behind the river, but the mountains my warrior uncovered should provide enough cover for my city, especially when coupled with another encampment. With Hungary showing up this quickly, I doubt I can push another city further south, so this city, the desert city west and the isthmus city will be my likely southern expansion.

I will for sure try to push further though, but scouting will be an issue with my early HS, especially as I am looking to either build a shrine or run a project. Stonehenge with China in play is a given and I would like to have first dibs on religion.

   

Nice Mali city sites there, a shame I went with Japan in retrospect, but I think it is the better choice.

   

Not much to go on for now. No Commercial city state envoys for Hungary so far.

   

More milpower then me, same science afair. I will provide more overview soon.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 22

Second city and pantheon time.

So with China in the game, wonders are much more complicated and uneven. We have no chance at stonehenge. Why?

First up a quick analysis on how quickly I could finish the stonehenge as China even with a settler first if I had use my 3 turns for a builder.
Stonehenge is 5-6 turns away, probably. If the 2nd city needs to build it 8-9.
China could risk someone else building it and go for the Pyramids first, but not something I can risk as Japan. I can not waste 10 turns building a wonder I won´t get.
Now ToA is not high priority enough for China (it also is behind archery, something that people tend not to rush. Stonehenge (first dibs on religion) and the Pyramids are too good to miss.

As Japan I could do Stonehenge in 18 turns with a rushed worker and some useless, inefficient chops, maybe 13-14? Not worth it.

This also means I won´t beat China to a religion but I could get the 2nd religion easily. So accelerating a great prophet might not be worth it. This informs my pantheon decision.

   

So continuing from this, I am sure I got the Holy Site first and I get my 2nd one in 10 turns (for a normal civ 19!). Couple that with production boost from a 2nd citizen in 4 turns this goes down to 9, if I buy a tile. ) 10 is good enough and aplenty. This also means. Ah what the heck. Excel to the rescue:

   

Even if I go crazy and add divine Spark on top of projects, I would be beaten by a quick stonehenge, but not quick pyramids followed by Stonehenge. I sincerely doubt that it is worth it to rush religion with China around. 

What I would like to be is to be 2nd not 3rd though as most useful stuff will be gone then. With my cheap HS this should be doable, but Divine Spark is bothersome if India gets it.

So with that, we look at the map, my preference for Divine Spark is high, as I could use the Great Scientist points as well and I will have some cultural districts, which I normally never build.

With that out of the way, let´s look at the map.

[TheArchduke]

First up, district planning.

I plan to settle a core of 4 cities first, with a possible pink dot south or the desert city, depending on the scouting of the next turns.

   

So, Pantheon.

Out:

Dance of Aurora, Desert Folklore, Sacred Path, Monument to the Gods (not good enough, ridiculously good for China and decent if China was not in), Gods of Sea, God of the open sky, goddess of the hunt (not many possible pastures or camps.), stone circles, religious idols, god of craftsmen (never good as you never know how many you got), God of Forge (no rush, else awesome), Initiation Rites, God of Healing (Could be a good replacement for DotF, but a competent opponent always goes for a kill, never damage), God of War, Fertility Rites (one builder is not good enough, City growth is always blocked by housing not anything else), Religious Settlements (BANNED, because insane), City Patron Goddess, Earth Goddess, Fire Goddess.

In:

River Goddess, longterm awesome. +2 amenities and +2 housing is really, really strong. I will have those in my 3 core cities, sans the harbour city "3" and desert town.
Divine Spark, pretty awesome, quicker religion and better science and culture via more persons. (Potential problem, the jig is up next turn and China will rush stonehenge if I go divine Spark.)
Lady of the Reeds and Marshes can be quite awesome. I have 5 at the northern river city, 2 at my capital, 1 at desert city, 8! at Space Lion and 1 at the isthmus city. So short term 2 hammers each, longterm about 10? Some districts will replace those marshes and reeds.
Goddess of festivals, which means sweet culture, Space lions is full of bananas.


Note the distinct lack of + faith pantheons that appeal to me. Culture and production is better then faith, which you can get from districts. Most are situational and sparse and would need a lot more of the ressources.

So, it basically boils down to:

1.) +2 amenities and +2 housing for 3 cities.
2.) Quicker Great Persons for science and culture.
3.) A quick 2 hammers for both cities, longterm about 4-6 hammers.
4.) 2 quick culture in about 12-14 turns and longterm about 5-6 culture.

We can quickly eliminate 3.) and 4.) on closer look and end up with 1.) and 2.).

The real question is if we want 3 megalopoli who produce everything a bit better or a secure 2nd religion and a stab (however unlikely, thanks to China) at being 1st. Will think on it a bit.

Crazy thought, I could go HS in all of my 6 cities..

[TheArchduke]

Turn 22

We take River Goddess, this may be pure madness, and I may overestimate amenities from my England game, but we are going full Khmer/crazy.

According to this plan we can establish a River HS in every city we have and mostly good locations as well. So we are doing this. Right now it is +10% to all yields, but this will add up over time and together with the housing ensure that we go for quite big cities. This also means we are doing this for the long haul, with a lot of faith so any aggression will be postponed. I need to adapt my mental plan, but we are going with this. If I am not 1st to a religion, I do not mind being 3rd.

Other minor stuff, founded Space Lion. Going for an immediate 3rd settler (11 turns) for a quick 3rd Holy Site, possible pink dot. We are going full crazy on this one. So no Agoge, no craftsmanship inspiration and less military. I expect to crash and burn with this perhaps. 

Looks like if Alhambram has encountered any CS they must be military ones.

So, River Goddess it is then.

   

The warrior will do settler escort, the scout will scout and both space lion and Tank! will do a builder next. I will do a quick foreign trade and buy a trade. I doubt anyone will expect me not to go full Monty so I should be safe from an early attack. Before they know I will build away.

If the scout can find a good pink dot southwest of Space Lion plans will change.

Also this means, we need a golden age to take advantage of our faith. So a golden classical and we will aim for a dark medieval one with monasticism and into a heroic renaissance if all goes according to plan.

And if that was not enough, we will take feed the world!

[pindicator]

We are going full crazy on this one.

[williams482]

Bring it!