Some May Be Impossible to Win

[Ginner]

I've tried the Indus Valley with Dholavira civ (Graduate difficulty) 5-6 times with different strategies and have never gotten more than 4 crowns before the Haps winning with 7 and I'm not even close to getting the last 3 crowns. Has anyone won this one, an if so what was your strategy?

[Flap]

The devs metionned a few times that all civilisations had been won during playtests. Apperently that is a Discord with people lurking there since a few month. That's probably the place to get the best advice.

[Avallach]

Hmm, I was thinking I could pop in here and give you a few tips and tell you it was challenging but not too hard. You see, I beat it on... well, if not my first attempt, maybe my second or third a few days ago (on Scholar). I didn't think much of it at the time, and I've played a bunch more since then and gotten a bit better, so I thought I'd jump in and give it a quick run now. And lost. Twice. So I don't know, maybe I just got lucky before?

But hey, third time lucky, again! Or, maybe not this time - I think I've figured it out. So the start is important of course. First turn I just get the 2 Plains flag techs, and allocate enough wealth to have 45 research for turn 2, so I can get the second Plains food tech. Early flagging is mostly focused on heading east, but also a few of the easy Plains north. I don't try to contest the near river (just if I have spare food and it's not bordered). After a few turns I'm swimming in food thanks to all the plains and the cheap flag techs, so I switch my wealth over to research. I get a city on the coastal plains spot just below the mountain, as soon as I can do it while still being able to place a flag heading northeast of there (racing the Harrapans). I focus on extending the border and using power techs to try and win border contests (plus one more city up north). I don't worry too much about filling in the interior or chasing the bottom river until I've first placed whatever flags I need to keep contesting the main border, and I start on the desert before the interior is complete.

Now, here's the thing I missed in those first 2 games. You have *coast* and the Harrapans don't. Building and expanding cities on the coast is cheaper, which gives you a leg up in the population crown race (where I was falling behind earlier). I placed 2 defensive cities, one on the east/north/east plains, and one on the northern plains near the desert. Then I just put cities wherever they could fit on the coast. After getting my main techs I switched wealth back to food for a while (food was 3 crowns, tech was 1 crowns, so it may vary for you). I had about 20% into power by this point and 2 armies near my 2 defensive cities. I stayed 1 tile back from the border so I could defend without threatening - eventually they mostly focused on harassing each other. And I got there with Harrapans probably a few turns away from getting the 3 wealth stars (oh, so yeah, I switched wealth out of food towards the end there of course).

[edit] I do think maybe Dholavira rates a Hard though. I'd possibly swap their Medium for Mohenjo-Daro's Hard rating, since at least Mohenjo-Daro have all those lovely hills that let them go aggressive very early.

[edit2] This might help. The map looked pretty similar in the games I lost as well, except for those coastal cities: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2876386526

[JohnTheBeast]

have you try to set only one crown victory instead of default 7 and try to race to that objective before others ai? Maybe you can do that

[Avallach]

Originally posted by Flap:

The devs metionned a few times that all civilisations had been won during playtests.

Originally posted by JohnTheBeast:

have you try to set only one crown victory instead of default 7 and try to race to that objective before others ai? Maybe you can do that

Yeah, that's the cheesy way that some people might beat them on the hardest difficulties, or if they're just trying to get the achievements. Less cheesy is increasing the crowns needed to 10, so you don't get blitzed early. I haven't had to resort to either yet, although 10 crowns might just be more fun.

[Taran]

I've completed all the ones on this map on master with the usual 7 crowns so it is definitely doable. Unfortunately I can't remember what the wonder settings were exactly.

In both cases I needed a crown opportunity to beat the Harappans, so if it is way easier to get 6 than 7 crowns, try to plan around buying an opportunity to win.

Also it is probably wise to avoid having Great Lighthouse since Harappans will always be able to get that. However, the AI is not nearly as good at completing Artemis and Gardens as a human players.

[Ginner]

Thank you, Avallach and others. I will keep trying (for a little while, at least) with Avallach's tips. I want to beat it on 7 crowns and Graduate level.

[moyang]

There are plenty room to expand so do it fast. One important thing is denying profitable terrain from opponents. Buy power on X terrain tech(s) to win flag tiebreakers. If you have enough lands it shouldn't be hard, since you have difficulty bonus too. BTW you are at advantage at even on scholar level too, since AIs don't get opportunities.

[Avallach]

Originally posted by moyang:

BTW you are at advantage at even on scholar level too, since AIs don't get opportunities.

True about the opportunity cards, but they do get bonus wealth to balance it out (over and above what they difficulty slider indicates). I don't know how much though.

[NPC]

Yeah I don't understand how to win this one. I have tried like a dozen times and there is no way to prevent the Harrapans from getting 25+ river squares and rolling the game. And units cost so much more that its really hard to ever push against them.
I tried the guide posted above and it just doesn't work. I don't know what I'm missing. I think if they either started them with a river tile (so you can buy the river expansion techs turn 1), or start the other civ a tile closer to Harrapans it might be possible. No idea how this is a medium.

[Oddible]

At the highest levels the opportunity card deck becomes critical and RNG is a HUGE factor. When and how you get those cards can be the difference between winning and losing.