This is Nihzlet, bringing you the first chapter of what will hopefully be an interesting, if peculiar, Let's Play of Civilization 5. What's a Let's Play, you ask? You're living under a rock, I answer. But if you're somehow not familiar with the concept, it's pretty simple: the author plays through a game and, through either video with narration or screenshots with writing(I will be doing the latter), shows his playthrough to the world. This can be for many purposes--as a game guide or walkthrough, to showcase player skill, for hilarity value, or other things.
As for Civilization 5, if you don't know what that is, then you're living under an even bigger rock, but here's a quick rundown for the uninformed. You are the leader of a great civilization, and you must use your resources to find a way to conquer the world. This can be through diplomacy, culture, science, or just plain military conquest.
For this particular Let's Play, I decided to try something interesting. Most of the different civilizations you can choose to play as in Civ 5 have a particular bias, a path to victory that they're good at. When playing as Germany, it's easiest to win through military might, for example. So what I'm going to do is set my civilization to random and then, whatever I end up playing as, do the exact OPPOSITE of whatever they're good at. Let's see what happens!
So my starting settings are almost completely random. 8 random civilizations(myself included), random map type, randomized leader personalities(so if I run into Gandhi, no guarantees he'll be nice). About the only thing I didn't randomize is map size, which I went with 'standard' for. Let's see what empire fate has in store for me!
The Siamese empire, under the mighty leadership of king Ram... Ramkha... captain unpronouncable. Good with diplomacy and culture due to their special ability and unique building, the Wat. I will also have access to some kind of fighting elephant. Which is clearly what I will get the most use out of, because since Siam is good at diplomacy and culture, it means I'm taking them to WAR!
Early Exploration shows a frightening amount of sea around my starting area... if I'm on an Islands map or similar type, this could hamper my early attempts at warmongering. My initial warriors go out looking for foes while I train some scouts to help them. A monument is next on the list to provide some culture; even though I'm not going for a culture victory, I do need SOME culture to get the combat-focused social policies and expand my borders.
Hm. Apparently the game really wants me to be cultured. These ruins give me essentially a free social policy right off the bat. Not what I was hoping for, but it'll give me a jump start on the 'Honor' social policies, which will help with any barbarians I find.
My fears have come true: I'm trapped alone on a tiny island. This will stymie my early war march, but I shall press on! Also, this island is apparently very wealthy, because there's silver veins EVERYWHERE. I count 6 veins of silver in the above screenshot, which is an absurd number for that small a space. If and when I get to it, the 'Mint' building is going to make me a ton of money... which I will use to fund my mighty Siamese war machine!
Unlocking the Honor policy early has paid off: it forewarns me that barbarians have made an encampment on my northern shores. Time to show these savages what the Siamese military is all about! Meanwhile, I unfortunately have to sidetrack military research to get water travel instead; if I'm stuck on this island, all the warriors and spearmen I can muster won't help a bit.
The barbarians picked a good spot for their camp, all right. Sitting in a chokepoint on top of a hill gives them a big defensive bonus, so it takes me several turns to root them out, by which time they've spawned another unit. My warriors receive a promotion for taking the encampment, but I have to use it to return the unit to full strength, lest they be destroyed by the vengeful(and now homeless) barbarians.
Just about the time I found a second city on the coast, I finally get far enough in the tech tree to start research on Optics, which will allow my warriors to embark into coastal waters and get me off this damn island. The barbarians have been neutralized, and my warriors are resting in preparation for the journey to new lands.
Optics has nearly finished, and I've trained some workers to take advantage of all these silver veins surrounding me. As they start to work exploiting local natural resources, work begins on the first Trireme of what will undoubtedly eventually be the mighty Siamese navy! I'm just hoping that one of the random computer civilizations isn't England, whose navy is pretty near untouchable.
Optics has finished researching, taking my mighty empire under the leadership of Captain Unpronouncable into the Classical era! My warriors and scouts set out for new lands as I finally return my research to military purposes, starting with Bronze Working.
At first it looks like my dreams of conquest will be dashed yet again, as my armies find only ocean to the south. But wait! My warriors sail a bit westward and discover a neighboring city-state--Dublin! My initial instincts to conquer are curbed by a few realizations. Dublin, being a militaristic city-state, will supplement my own armed forces with free donated units if I befriend them. Also, they have access to nearby whales, which--for some inexplicable reason--one of my cities is demanding. They say they'll have a special holiday in my honor if I give them whales. Apparently all this holiday consists of is having sex all the time, because it increases the city's growth rate. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH WHALES?!? Wait, no. I'm probably better off not knowing.
I soon discover another island nearby, where the city-state of Brussels can be found. They're a cultured city-state, though--much less useful for my ambitions. The mighty Siamese war fleet of a single Trireme pays them a visit, but it's too early to attack just yet.
Continuing around the island with Brussels on it, my scouts also find Warsaw, another cultured(read: wuss) city-state. This island is larger than most any I've seen yet, probably bigger than my own home island, and has several resources I could use. Continued exploration finds not only another city-state--Belgrade this time--but also some barbarians, and a natural wonder!
Belgrade is another militaristic city-state, so they can survive for now... if they help me. Between the resources, Mt. Fuji, ruins, and plunder of the weaker city-states, this island looks like a prime target for my first conquest.
It is unfortunate that my navy hasn't discovered any of my true enemies--the other civilizations--just yet. I shall use this reprieve to shore up my own territories--I'll make these local city-states know who the true ruler in this part of the ocean is. Apparently my citizens are happy with my plans, and so a Golden Age dawns upon the empire!
With this, Reverse Psychology Chapter 1 comes to a close. I've got my first military targets in sight, I'm just entering a Golden Age(which will amp up both my economy and production), and my overall rankings are high. My average rank thus far is about 2.5 out of 8, and I'm in the top 3 in every category except one. Oddly enough, the category I'm behind in is approval... and my citizens were just so happy that a Golden Age started. I won't complain.
Next time on Let's Play Civ 5--Reverse Psychology: operation 'kill the city states' begins! Will I find my real enemies, the other civilizations?
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