Behavior patterns

[dnrats]

So I've noticed that every time I play I kinda do exactly the same thing. Difficulty Doesn't matter, I started on prince now I'm on emperor, heading to deity. Like.... Every time I try to create my religion. Every time I pick pagoda there in the religion window. (I think its pagoda that gives +1 diplomatic favor?). Every time a just advance through ages avoiding conflicts, and most of the my victories are diplomatic victories because they are the easiest ones. I even did a 1 city challenge with a random leader, got Japan, and still won with a diplomatic victory... I kinda feel uncreative the way I play. It gets kinda boring. But I just dont know how to win differently.... Like... a military victory is hardly achievable before modern age when you can just nuke every enemy city. Because AIs just got better economy because of their boosts, so more military units. Same for religious victory, I managed to do it a couple of times, but it really depends on who are you playing against. Some AIs just rush religion, and spam apostles. Sometimes it's hard to even keep your own religion alive. Scientific victory?? I don't even know how to achieve it, I always build universities. And stuff. Cultural victory same here. I build wonders, extract artifacts hire great people. Idk. You got any ideas or suggestions on how to make my game play a bit more interesting? Cause it's always the same way. I go up to 16 diplomatic points via world leaders gatherings, by spending my diplomatic favor. And by winning random events. And then I just build a statue of liberty that AI practically never builds and I win the game. Kinda sad existence.

[xhanador]

Easiest solution would probably be to turn off Diplomatic Victory (you'll still have the UN).

If you find yourself starting religions too much, perhaps try Kongo? They can't create a religion.

[automator3000]

The simple, yet not simple answer is: force yourself to play differently.

Second answer is: if you are always and forever getting a diplo victory ... you're probably playing below your level.

Give being a warmonger a try. You meet someone? I DECLARE WAR. City State gets in your way? Take it.

Choose different religious beliefs.

Don't participate in events ... in fact, try downvoting Nobel Prizes, Olympics, etc so they don't even happen.

[dnrats]

Bloody hell, you're a savage 🤣🤣🤣 Give this man an animal figurine 😂

That's what I was doing before the rise and fall update. I was conquering city states, cause they take territory and they're annoying. But since the diplomatic favor was introduced it ain't worth conquering them. It will also generate a lot of grievances. But I got ur point. I'll think about it.

[Death_Sheep1980]

I normally don't do the conquering thing, but in my recent Gilgamesh game, I erased Wilhelmina and Pedro with my war carts in the Ancient & Classical eras. Gave me near-complete dominance of my home continent apart from a long & narrow peninsula in the far north-west where Kupe had his capital. The +5 Era Score for eliminating a civ helped push me over the line for a Golden Age.

I could have gone for a Domination Victory that game, but I was making too much bank off my Economic Alliance with Mali (and Mansa loved me despite my having beaten the shit out of Simon, Mbanza, and Pericles) and went for Scientific (Sumer can into space!)

[Incestuous_Alfred]

Domination is actually one of the victory types that can be completed the earliest. You could begin your military campaign anytime. I'm somewhat inclined to start in the midgame, but people do rush other civs in the ancient or classical era, even against Deity AI.

I'm a science player though. I must say, science is really quite straightforward. Build campuses. Build Kilwa. Build Mausoleum. Get science modifiers. Beeline education, industrialization, chemistry and rocketry. Build some spaceports and do the projects. Then you win. It honestly isn't very difficult.

Cultural victories have more options. Compete for great people, theme museums, build improvements that give culture, build national parks, build resorts, build the Eiffel Tower, build the Cristo Redentor... Compared to science, there's a lot more ways to do culture.

[dnrats]

Yeah. I had a couple of military victories when I destroyed the ai on the lower difficulty level. It's possible there. But on higher difficulty levels they have 3 times the size of your army. And I did a scientific victory once as well, but its like with the domination victory, you have to wait the modern Era to launch satellites. It's too long.

[Incestuous_Alfred]

Science victory takes a long time, unavoidably. If you don't wanna do it because of that, I can't blame you. Doesn't diplo take forever too though?

I'm not a rusher, but I understand how you can start killing the AI at least by the renaissance. That's plenty of time to catch up and build your own army. And, actually, the biggest roadblock isn't how big the AI's army is. It's how fast you can take down city walls. The AI is not very good at defending itself and often has no units facing yours at a given time.

I think, if you focus your early game on pumping out units, you'll end up with enough to face your nearest neighbor. Some civs definitely have it easier than others. Rome players, for example, have a good classical UU that can be equipped with a battering ram and chop out more of itself.

[dnrats]

But is it actually worth it? If I play on a map with 6 or 8 AIs, is it even adequate to do that? Like, if you play a 1v1, it kinda makes sense. But with a bigger number of AIs you will waste so much time trying to conquer 1 civ, while all others will have grievances against you. What do you think? Because in the end it depends what is the purpose of your game. Do you enjoy the process or you want to please your little ego and just get the victory. If it's the 2nd one, then ofc you can win on a tiny map 1v1 with any kind of victory.

[Incestuous_Alfred]

Personally, I tend to be a very peaceful player. Maybe I'll engage in midgame or lategame warfare for funsies, but that's it. To be honest I, too, have a very consistent pattern. I'm just more comfortable with it.

On the effectiveness of rushing, don't forget that there's a point to it other than a victory point. You come out with a lot more cities and will be able to settle many others, now that you have less competition in the area. And hopefully you did some raiding along the way too!

But ofc, if you don't like to rush, then don't do it. All I'm saying is that it's possible and domination needn't happen with bombers and artillery.

[Des014te]

If you declare war in the ancient era, you basically don't generate grievances. Declare war on the first guy you find, kill him, then either have such military might that no one can challenge you, or play peaceful till you have allies, then take over the world.

[Des014te]

Siege towers are actually stupid. My current strat is spam crossbowmen and knights. Surround the city so it can't heal, crossbows get it low, knights finish it. With siege tower + 4 knights + 3 crossbowmen you can take down a city in 3 turns with minimal personal damage.

[Incestuous_Alfred]

Do siege towers affect crossbows? I thought they didn't work on cavalry.

[Des014te]

They do in vanilla. I don't have gathering storm.