Conquest of The New World – Macho Picchu Steam Achievement Guide

Conquest of the New World – Inca Strategy

Civilization 5 Wonder - Machu Picchu

The Inca Empire existed for not much more than a century. Yet over this period of time the Incan rulers managed to create one of the biggest empires in human history. The two best known leaders, Pachacuti (for whom Machu Picchu was built most likely) and Huayna Capac ruled 25 and 32 years respectively. The brother war between Huaynas sons, Huáscar and Atahualpa, the Spanish conquest of South America and a smallpox epidemic heralded the end of the Inca Empire.

Machu Picchu, by now UNESCO World Heritage site, was built around 1450 and abandoned less than a century later. Never known to the Spanish, Machu Picchu was “rediscovered” only in 1911. The name of the Steam Achievement is a slight, but smart alteration in the name of the lost city:

Macho Picchu

Conquest of the New World Steam AchievementUnlocked 18 Dec, 2017 @ 8:42am

Win the New World Scenario as the Incas.

German and French names of this Steam Achievement:
DE: Macho Picchu
FR: Macho Picchu

The following is a collection of experiences. For detailed strategy guides, I’d like to forward you to

Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

— Samuel Beckett

In my attempt to win on Deity difficulty with the Incas I started hundreds of games. 55 games had a decent starting position so I’ve played at least some turns (something between 5 and 15) to find out whether there’s sufficient strategic resources and luxuries in the vicinity for a decent game. The main thing however is the search for cultural city states.

Here’s some maps that I’ve played, then surrendered just to check for some basic important factors:

All these games had promising starting positions, but all lacked one or the other thing, in order of (my personal) priority:

  1. Starting position in North America (sometimes you don’t know that from the start)
  2. Not 2 and not 1 Cultural city-state
  3. Natives spread across different islands/continents (thus economies will be weaker -> less resistance versus Europeans, furthermore by having an easy passage to the West, there’s more coastal land to attack for the Europeans)
  4. No tiles that supported the Natives special improvements (Tipi, Terrace Farm) or benefits (Forests and Jungles for Iroquois and Aztecs)

Sample games on Deity difficulty

Of those nine games none was won. I’d even say none was winnable. Having spent about one month only playing the Incas I decided to do something radical:

Achieving Macho Picchu on Settler Difficulty

From here on this guide follows the best practices of all Native American civilizations. Of course on this level the strategies that work on Deity make for overwhelming dominance on Settler!

In a nutshell: Rush for Horsemen of the Plains. As usually Cultured City-States are of tremendous help. Then crush the nearest fellow Native civilizations, conquer the European colonies to crush their economy and victory is yours.

Macho Picchu – Conclusion

The frustration of over weeks NOT making this achievement on Deity difficulty was overwhelming. However: Dominating the “New World” as one of the Natives like this made up for the frustration quite well. Conquest of the New World is a tough scenario and the Inca will remain the only civ I didn’t win on Deity. The settler score of ~8900 VP is crazy!

Did you make it on Deity with the Inca? Other comments, or feedback? Please leave them below! 🙂

6 thoughts on “Conquest of The New World – Macho Picchu Steam Achievement Guide”

  1. Settler difficulty but didn’t conquer Europe? why even continue to live
    jk i guess this scenario diaries are over then, since there aren’t interesting stuffs left (strategies being the same on each side)
    Will you go back and finish ItRenaissance with Sweden to complete your adventure?

    1. Hahaha, yes, thanks for your encouragement. Glad you like the guides. Fully agreed also: Into the Renaissance is simply the best scenario. I’m not playing much at all these days, because a baby is on the way (and close! 🙂 ). This means I only have some years to finish all this until have to start with Civ1 again to teach the little one.

    2. Whew: Into the Renaissance – Sweden is finished! And the Swedish Empire has never been this big. I’m very near Moscow and might even play a bit beyond turn 200, to capture it. Guide will follow 🙂

  2. Hey man just want to say i love reading all of your scenarios. They are very in depth and entertaining to read. Thanks for doing these!

    1. Hey Tom, that’s great to hear! It’s feedback like this that makes me get back to my notes even weeks and months after playing, to finally do the blog post for the latest playthrough. Thanks a lot! 🙂

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