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I have been playing Civilization since the demo was released for the original game in 1991 and have played every incarnation of the game thus far. I'm far from the best player on the 'webs but I have 1,500 hours in Civ 6 and usually win on deity level fairly comfortably (although at deity there are times when you get swamped by the AI early on and can't do much about it). I decided to start a new game:
My idea was to try a map with not much land, all of which was highly contested. On the first roll I got this:  Remember that this is legendary starts! The T1 save file is here. I'm not one for re-rolling but I saved it for posterity and re-rolled and had a great game. I then returned to this start and wondered if it might be possible to win. Let's try... T2: The terrain is revealed to be almost as grim as expected. Two city states close by: Nan Madol, which has already been met and Chinguetti which has not. Neither city state is particularly important to a particular victory type, which suggests that a war footing might lever me out of my initial misery.  T3: Switching to the settler lens shows that I can only move as far as the river before I get blocked by the city states. There is no way that I can take the 8 additional turns to push North of the two city states so I will need to settle here. I consider researching Sailing on the basis that I can get the crabs up and build a passable harbour. Crabs give money when developed, so that’s not going to help my food/growth issues. I will want early mining and Magnus to chop the wood(s?) to the West and eek out a little production. Food is going to be a serious issue so I go for Animal Husbandry to get the pasture up on the sheep, my one good tile in this ‘legendary start’. My usual double scout opener isn’t going to fly here. My late start and bad tiles means I will be behind and information is simply going to break my soul when I see opportunities I don’t have the production/food to take. An early builder might work but it’s 10 turns until I would get the tech for pastures up and I would have two charges sitting there until I got mining or sailing. I should either go slinger for the additional exploration and defence or monument to expand borders and get to a T1 government faster. As the tiles I would be expanding to are terrible I go for a slinger.  T6: Exploring North reveals Ludwig. The terrain gives me a decent +4 campus, +5 with adjacency. I could settle on the stone South of Munich but it’s 12 turns until Tyre grows to pop 2 and 16 turns for a settler. Tyre is growing to the crabs so I’m going to have to spend 50g to get the pasture up.  T8: A barb camp appears at the Southern tip of the map. Of course it does. I expect it will spawn modern armour. I rename Tyre, ‘Misery City’. At least there is a strong choke point SW of the city which I can hold easily. Barbs can’t take a capital city and it’s not like I’ve got tiles for them to pillage...  T9: Ludwig foolishly allows my warrior to step onto the only tile I can settle. The barbs have discovered my city (which you will also note is on a level 2 flood tile, just to make it better) but I don’t want to take my warrior back as Ludwig will either settle my one available spot, or the city states will start walking units around making it impossible to settle. I’m going to need archers to deal with the barbs and a settler to get a better city up. There are some decent districts in the city, the mountains will make it impossible to take with an archer or two defending but I suspect that an encampment will be needed as will walls. A couple of archers, a settler, a very late monument and a builder purchase looks to be the play. T11: 50g up, I purchase the sheep and lock it in. I’m going for a second slinger and have moved my first slinger over to the woods at the far West so that I can fire on the barbs with two slingers once my second pops. T13: Animal Husbandry finishes. I intend to start work on Archery but sadly, and because I’m an idiot, I click on pottery instead by mistake (I was thinking about researching it for a potential granary to get +1 food though mining may have made more sense and then misclicked). I will need 60g each to upgrade the two slingers to archers (I’d usually go with three for the boost to Machinery).  T14: Settling on the warrior is now -7... Ludwig has 125 military to my 35 and is sending a settler South to my spot. The barbs have rediscovered me and sent a warrior. All in all looking fantastic!  T16: Oh Ludwig! You didn’t! I take big hit on my slinger (which I will need to retreat into the city after taking a promotion to stand any chance of living), declare a surprise war on Ludwig and filch his settler. Finally, a break! T17: My slinger retreats toward the city, not sure if he’s going to make it. Ludwig isn’t overly happy but only has two warriors and a scout. Founding the city should make his life difficult.  T18: I lose the slinger to the barbs. My second (replacement first?) slinger pops. I’m just going to leave the barbs to hit on my capital and head north with it to help against Ludwig. I’m also at war with Nan Madol, which is lovely. I queue up one more slinger. Code of Laws finishes and so I go with Discipline for the barbs (I have no scout anyway!) and Urban Planning. My envoy with Chinguetti means that I’m at 15 of 25 faith and so may get a reasonable pantheon but I can’t pass up the two production. I start craftmanship – I may need to head to military tradition and it’s not looking likely that I will boost either civic. I found Biruta, which is now only -3, so I should be able to hold it. I go with a slinger, not a monument, which may prove to be a mistake but it’s a risk worth taking. I finally notice and switch over from Pottery to Archery, which will take 9 turns (boosted) but will be necessary.  T23: Biruta is going to rebal in 5 turns. It’s -12, so there is no way I can hold it. At least I’ve set Ludwig back. The barbs are being a nuisance down South. T27: I meet João of Portugal. He doesn’t immediately declare war on me, which is nice. Biruta will fall in two turns.  T28: Pantheon time – God of the Seas is available, as is God of the Open Sky. Dance of the Aurora (as I’m not lacking for Tundra) is available but isn’t going to fix my capital and a religion isn’t happening this game. I go with fishing boats on the basis that there is a lot a coast. Biruta flips next turn (-9.2). I pull my troops back so that they’re not propelled into enemy territory immediately thereafter. I’ve misplayed this in that I should have retreated the settler and held the gap, before pushing to kill Ludwig and/or the two city states. If I could do that, this game might have a chance. Archery has completed. I have 85g (+5/turn) so I can upgrade slinger one immediately and have another archer coming from Misery City in three turns. I research mining.  T29: The city will be German in 9 turns. I can’t retake it in that time and by the time I take and destroy it Munich will have walls up. This is now unwinnable IMHO but anyone is willing to try the T29 save file is here. I'm going to roll back a bit and try another approach. Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Aug 11, 2023 |
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Aug 10, 2023 17:33
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This rules, keep going please. I love Civ, but it's never compelled me to try focused play, so let me live vicariously. Any other in depth play would be awesome.
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Aug 10, 2023 18:30
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I retry from turn 16 when Ludwig was so keen to give me that settler.... T16v2: Hurrah! Silly Ludwig. Without any possibility of knowing the future, it seems to me that I ought to hide this settler by my capital whilst I push out and take the city states or Munich. Better still my slinger promotes and rolls high to survive the hit and run back to the city. I will leave the barbs to hit on Misery City unchecked. My people will welcome the distraction from the bitter cold and miserable tile yields. I switch over from pottery to archery. Glad I didn’t forget to do that for another few turns like some sort of idiot!  T18: So the plan is to hold the choke point with my warrior whilst four archers stand behind and destroy Ludwig’s army. My second slinger has finished, I will get two more than make the call for naval/monument/more melee. They’ll need to be archers for the plan to work and archery is 15 turns away (fewer once I boost it). My gold income is such that I might wait on completing the third slinger until I can produce it as an archer (less efficient usually than upgrading but I’m not going to have the gold to do so). I go Discipline/ Urban Planning again and research Craftsmanship (which I will switch away from before it gets to the boost point) T20: Ludwig has decided to use his scout to beat up on my warrior. Happy days. My slinger is slowly doing work on the barbs (+5 from the card, +10 from Garrison). I might send one down to clear the camp when I can. I need to keep an eye out for a settler taking that spot, which might give me a second steal, which suggests pushing my warrior forward once the initial wave of attacks from Ludwig subside. I will swap the two slingers over so that I can level my second one, which I will probably promote with the anti-unit promotion. T23: Ludwig isn’t pushing in. Once my warrior is healed up I will march it forward toward Stone City. Slinger #3 has finished. The two new slingers can level on the barbs for now. I queue up builder then monument. 4 more turns to archery (which has been boosted thanks to the never-ending stream of barbs).  T27: Archery finishes, I go for sailing so that I can improve the crabs and my life in general. A quadririme might be quite helpful, which I might boost with two Biremes. Not sure yet – my land army isn’t exactly terrifying as it stands... I have the cash to upgrade one slinger but want to upgrade the levelled one to maximise the damage dealt. T28: I take God of the Seas and upgrade my levelled slinger. My other unlevelled slinger heads back toward the capital. T30: My archer steps to the tile North of the crabs, out of city shot but able to finish off the scout cowering near Nan Madol. My builder finishes, the gold from the crabs will be of more use to in the short term than the pasture but sailing is still 7 turns away. T31: I meet João of Portugal (four turns later than last time, not that there was any sort of previous failure...). He still doesn’t declare war! Hurrah! The slinger in the city is nearly levelled so I swap in my other unlevelled unit to make use of the barbs and get my level 1 promotion. T34: My warrior is healed and I need 15g to upgrade my second slinger. João is willing to give me 25g now in return for 2g over 30 turns, 60g in total. My treasury is 37g +4 per turn, so it will be six turns before I can upgrade otherwise. On balance I take the deal as it means I may be able to push toward Germany sooner. I upgrade the second slinger (treasury is now 10g+1 but will be improved once the crabs are up). My third archer will pop in five turns and I still don’t see walls around Munich (which would push me to try to take Nan Madol first). It’s go time – if I can take Munich this game might have a future. I retreated the settler toward the city to bait the scout into a killing zone. Ludwig has three cities – Munich his capital, Frankfurt and Mainz. At least one is to the West of Munich (which is still not working on walls). He would peace out but would not give me anything. Sailing in three turns, I switch out to Foreign Trade as Craftsmanship has hit the boost level.  T35: Annoyingly, Chinguetti’s warrior path blocked my passage through the mountains. I can’t possibly afford the 240g to levy Chinguetti’s military, which is a shame. I shoot Ludwig’s warrior and fortify (over a river) with my own. Nan Madol is no longer Ludwig’s vassal, which is amazing news. You can see that he is nearing completion of the pyramids, which explains the lack of walls and would be an amazing steal. T37: My warrior levelled killing Ludwig’s. I take battlecry and march him up to Munich. My two archers and slinger move toward the front. One turn until my next archer pops. Sailing finishes and I go for mining so that I have something to use my third builder charge on and boost Craftsmanship. IT will take 8 turns.  T38: Mainz is to the East of Munich and both cities have switched to the production of walls. The decision is either take Mainz first (in which case Munich will get its walls up but may have finished the pyramids) or take out Munich knowing that it will flip back. Greed would seem to be the best option here - If I take Mainz preferably without walls I can heal up and swing back for Munich and its famous beer festival at the pyramids... T39: I need to bait Ludwig’s units out of the city and destroy them. I need to take Mainz, which loyalty won’t hold for long, so I might just burn it down. At 4/11 I be getting a dark age, which is hardly ideal, unless I build my Bireme before the era ends. If I can take Munich and move on to Frankfurt then by the time Munich flips I might have my troops in place to destroy Frankfurt and retake Munich. Mining in 5t, Foreign Trade (unboosted) in 17t. I still don’t have a monument but I need to go all-in on military right now. It’s still not quite over yet!  T41: Mainz’s walls go up. My warrior falls in between the turns. T42: A replacement warrior pops. I go for another archer.  T44: My level 2 archer is going to die but so is Mainz. Mining finishes and completes Craftsmanship. I immediately switch into Military Tradition (27 turns, boost is to clear a barb camp...). T45: Ludwig offers me 5gpt for peace. He proceeds to kill my archer, which saddens me sufficiently to say no. Munich’s walls are now also up. Chinguetti again path blocks my warrior’s approach to the front. T47: Mainz spawns a chariot. Chinguetti refuses to allow my warrior forward.  T48: Ludwig offers 7gpt +9g for peace. My archer will die but can take out a warrior first. T49: My warrior is still blocked, my slinger dies, the archer finishes off Mainz’s walls. There is a potential builder steal (not worth it) and trade route steal (worth it) on the cards but between turns I’m path blocked and Ludwig brings up a warrior.  T51: Ludwig will give me 9gpt for peace. My archer by Mainz promotes to Incendiaries. My warrior is path blocked by can fortify against Ludwig’s warrior in the area.   T55: Some unit blasting later and Mainz’s two chariots will kill my archer at some point, my second archer and warrior cannot get through the morass of city state units. This isn’t going to work, sadly. I am going to have one final go at this. I could have peaced out Ludwig, built up some economy and enhanced my army and pushed onward but a far better way would have been to take out the city states first. That way I will actually have room to maneuver troops into position. The mountain choke-points, Ludwig's walls and better tech and Deity production advantages and the two city states path blocking my movements will otherwise make any war virtually unwinnable once those walls go up. Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Aug 10, 2023 |
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Aug 10, 2023 18:30
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I believe in Misery City!
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Aug 10, 2023 18:39
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I've reloaded from T35 and am making some good progress this time. Third time is the charm.
Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Aug 15, 2023 |
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Aug 10, 2023 18:53
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That is an absolutely terrible spawn, even worse than what I normally see.
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Aug 10, 2023 20:08
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I've tried to convince myself to Civ6 but I couldn't. I don't know why, it just doesn't click with me like previous Civs did.
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Aug 10, 2023 21:00
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Szarrukin posted:I've tried to convince myself to Civ6 but I couldn't. I don't know why, it just doesn't click with me like previous Civs did. I got that a bit with Civ 5. I hated the change removing stacking, although I quite liked the hexes and the general mechanics. It just didn't click and so I ended up playing only a few hundred hours (my steam account says 33hrs but that's not right, must have ported my copy of the game over to steam at a later date). Civ 6 is by far the most polished, intricate and enjoyable 4x game that I know of. It still suffers a bit in the late game from being too big and lacking good automation features for the minutiae (although the detail counts on higher difficulty levels in a way that it does not in lower difficulties).
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Aug 10, 2023 21:17
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This is a great thread! Looking forward to seeing what you can make happen.
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Aug 13, 2023 05:45
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OK, let's retry from T35. Third time is apparently the charm. Misery City will rise to glory! T35: Nan Madol will rue the day it met me! I turn my sights from Ludwig toward Nan Madol in the hope that by taking the city state and working North I will be able to hold the cities with some loyalty and the city states won’t constantly path block me. Honestly - who would ever think of attacking Ludwig without the plain and obvious step of marching on his supporting city states first! That man would be an idiot! Sailing finishes, Mining starts - I may not have food but I do at least have some hills. T37: Nan Madol has three warriors and walls to contend with. Clear the warriors and chip away at the walls is the only logical plan.The geographical bottleneck means that even if the rest of the world declares on me for my audacity, my meager army should hold them all off in the mountain pass.  T38: Another archer pops. I will move it to hit on the city from the SE whilst my warrior fortifies (it has a promotion which I will use to heal him with Battlecry once he's damaged) and my archers take out the warriors. A boat may also help: At 65 production it has a higher cost than another warrior but 35 melee plays the warrior’s 20 is a no-brainer. Two boats coming up. At 7 turns each (fewer after I get a mine down in six turns) they're not too bad. I would rather it doesn’t pop until after the era ends unless I get one more era score (I’m 4/11 and the Bireme will give me 6 points, four for the unique unit and 2 for the first boat). T39: Ludwig will take peace (but won’t give me anything for it). He gives me his open borders for 16g. I take it as I can then use his territory to manoeuvre my troops and take Nan Madol. Don’t worry Ludwig, I will be coming for you again soon (particularly as he’s just finished the pyramids for me). T40: I promote an archer with Garrison (i.e. toward Incendiaries) and scout with my builder - a dangerous move but worth it as I meet Teddy from America.  T41: My builder heads back toward the mine, my archers move toward the city (annoyingly the East of the city is hill with a forest so my archer needs to step right next to the city to fire. That increases the risk of losing him, or having to retreat without hitting the city much thereby slowing the destruction of the city). I will keep my warrior back for now. And step him in later - I don't have anything else to take the city once the archers get the walls down (and I don't have a battering ram so he'd be of no use until the walls are down anyway).  T43: My first round of attacks on the city. The walls go down a little. Taking down walls is not a straight line thing - initial damage is slight but picks up significantly once the walls are a bit damaged. It can be disheartening initially. The trick is always to check the city strength against your unit's attack strength (if the city is vastly higher then you're going to have a tough time). T44: Nan Madol has spawned a builder for me to steal. Mining completes and I pop down a mine using my final builder charge. That finishes Craftsmanship. I switch into Military Tradition and will try to use my slinger (who has now finished licking his wounds in Misery City) to clear the barb camp if possible. I think about switching into Agoge for the unit production but as I would be stuck with the card for some time I’d prefer the help in clearing out the barbs. I research Iron Working in the hope that I have iron to boost my production a bit. T45: My Bireme pops securing me a normal age (11/11). The roll-over triggers the next era which will be in ten turns. T46: I promote an archer with Incendiaries and pillage with my warrior to heal up. My final slinger in Misery City promotes (to Garrison)  T49: 7 turns to the next era. I finally take down Nan Madol’s walls. Unit promotions have meant that my troops are all in relatively good shape and now that the city cannot fight back it will fall in the next turn or two. No great rush now. I will then settle on the stone (if the loyalty isn’t too painful, it’s currently -14) and work out whether I go for Chinguetti or straight for the German heartland, like an astonishingly lethargic Blitzkrieg. I think the former given how annoying the city sate has been in blocking my units. It would also give me an chance to move troops up to take the city to the East of Munich, which will otherwise be protected by the mountain range until Minich falls (and given the narrow stretch to the coast, even then a push through that gap will be difficult). T50: Nan Madol spawns a spearman and Germany denounces me. I ignore it and take the city, which gives me the Eureka for Masonry and Early Empire. Loyalty is -10.9, which may drop when I 'keep' the city. I also get their free builder! Annoyingly, the loyalty in the city is so bad that I have no way to hold it. I will have to let it flip back, raise it and resettle my own city in its ashes. At least it will be warm. The tundra tile SE of the city would give me a +4 harbour, less of a loyalty headache and a chance to pillage the stone if I wish. The settler starts to head over in anticipation. T52: My second Bireme completes, giving me the boost to shipbuilding. Bronze working is 5 turns away, Military Tradition is 16. Nan Madol flips in 3 turns. I finally start on a monument in my one city (at turn 52!). The builder improves the crabs at Nan Madol to boost Celestial Navigation. I will lose the improvement when I level the city but the boost is worth it, particularly as this was a 'free' worker.  T55: Nan Madol flips but should be easy to retake. I will farm the two warriors who popped for XP even though I could probably take the city in one turn. T56: A new era! I go Free Inquiry (Monumentality gives just +1 per district, I will build maybe two). I complete Bronze Working and start on Pottery (1 turn with the power of science! For those who don't know, once the era pops the previous era's tech is lowered in value significantly. It is also lowered the more people research a particular tech). I kill both warriors and take the Nan Madol, razing it. I have iron and Misery City will grow to it in 16 turns! I very much doubt that I will have the income to justify purchasing the tile before then (plus I will need cash to upgrade my warrior to a swordsman and, in time my archers to crossbowmen).  T57: Annoyingly I can’t found a city where I want (I miscounted. You need to leave three spaces between cities over land, two if it's over water but that only applies when on different islands) so it’s a choice of killing the woods and being 4 tiles from the capital, or refounding Nan Madol 5 tiles away. The woods would kill the ‘opportunity’ to settle the stone city but it’s not that great and it’s currently -20. Pottery completes so I go for Astrology (11 turns) into Celestial Navigation (18 turns) so that I can at least place the two harbours and lock in their prices. My Biremes go explore and discover another continent, giving me the boost toward Foreign Trade, which I switch to as Military Tradition is full up to the boost (for which I need to clear the barb camp).  T58: Annoyingly the barb spearman kills my slinger. Not ideal. I found ‘Episode IV’ (A New Hope) which has no loyalty issue but I will go for a monument first given the issues I have had thus far... More naval exploration reveals that I have two boats on a tiny pond. I have become the AI (which has a habit of building a navy to defend two tile lakes...!). Teddy Roosevelt demands that I don’t settle on his land. Worry not Teddy! Ludwig says the same. Hurrah! 60 diplo favour to sell (at some point, no one wants it yet so I buy the little I can for a bit of gold to resell at a later time). I again make no changes. The buying diplo favour when cheap to resell to the AI a few turns later always feels slighly like an exploit but (a) it costs gold which isn't available for several turns and (b) I frankly need everything I can get in this game. Sometime one AI will sell you diplo favour for less than you can resell to a different AI who is less far along the Culture tree. It isn't something which is open for more than a turn or two but is worth looking out for. T59: Monument complete, Misery City could start on a settler to take the stone and help my push on Munich, which I note is busily building me Machu Picchu but I go for another archer in the end. Ludwig will have swordsmen by now and may well have crossbows, which would be a problem for me. I change my science over to Masonry so that I can build walls in Episode IV (and the Stone Town once settled). Walls will help me destroy anything which pushes into my territory without taxing my own troops too much. Until then I will heal up and march on Chinguetti! The tile blocking gits will rue the day!  T62: So it looks like Ludwig has designs on my new Star Wars themed city. He is moving troops over my way and the pathing is such that they cannot be moving on Chinguetti themselves. Portugal’s scout is doing its best to stop my defence of the city by blocking the shortest route from the road to the city. T65: No question that Ludwig is coming. Happily he has one swordsman, a slinger and some warriors. I should be able to fend them off easily if they’re coming for me. If they are after Chinguetti then so much the better but it would be very odd pathing... T66: I get a governor. I default to Pingala but as none of my cities have any population as yet there is little point. I grab Victor and pop him into Episode IV for some additional defence. Misery City pops another Archer. I could get an Encampment in 9t, a granary in 7t but I got for a spearman in 7t (I can see horses near Germany's territory so they may have them plus killing a unit with a spearman will give me a boost and era score). The Barb camp will finally fall next turn (although watch it spawn a swordsman!). Early Empire has finished so I put a turn into State Workforce.  T67: Barb camp cleared! +3 era score and rejoicing from more than just the people! Even though the mod isn't on, this particular camp has been around for so long that it had nearly turned into a new empire. Military Tradition finishes, giving me flanking and support bonuses just in time for my intended wars against Chinguetti and Germany. I will keep the boats (which I was considering disbanding) for their support bonuses. Had they been a unit tier higher then they would have cost maintenance each turn and I would have disbanded them long ago. I've largely kept them to help me fend off America if he declares, or to help distract his cities with suitable targets when I move on him.  Amazingly a girl shows up at my gates giving me access to vampires and another governor title. This game has gone on so long and I've made such little progress that I had entirely forgotten that I had secret societies on. Vampires aren't necessary to help me take out Germany but there isn't another obvious choice give my predicament and taking land by force is always well received diplomatically by other civs! I consider taking Garrison Commander on Victor for the +5 combat and loyalty buffs but as I need to survive before I try to take on Germany, and as there should be many deaths in the turns to come (if the vampire is standing next to a unit that dies, it levels up its stats by one point) I go for a vampire unit despite my strongest unit being trash at present. Happily he turns out to have 35 strength – the might of my Bireme! T68: Masonry finishes. I switch to walls in Episode IV. I may need them despite the 23t build time. I consider the return to Astrology (7t) to head toward harbours but go instead for Iron Working (27t but will boost next turn when my iron mine is improved). I sell open borders to Portugal for 14g. That takes my treasury to 104+2. I use 65g to purchase a useless snow tile at Misery City and drop an encampment down, which I will finish after my spearman completes. Iron will go online next turn.  T69: Iron mine down boosting the Wheel, Iron Working and Apprenticeship. I’m already 18/25 in the era tracker. Ludwig is definitely out for revenge. T70: I sell my 2 iron for 14g to Portugal (and buy some more of his diplo favour for cheap). If I can raise another 9g I can buy a tile in Episode VI on which to drop an encampment, which I can build immediately, then finish the walls. That will give me a way to attack Frankfurt (which missed out on the Great Bath I note). No one wants anything. T71: Ludwig declares that I treasure my lakes and forests. He seems to be having second thoughts about attacking me, perhaps becuase of my vampire. 2 more iron sold to Portugal gives me the gold I need to purchase a tile for an encampment in Episode VI, so down it goes next to the horses. It’s a 27t build. Frankfurt is under attack and its walls are falling fast, presumably to America. I demand both of Ludwig's luxuries – gypsum and turtles – which amazingly he hands over! That's a pretty rare thing to happen. He doesn’t let me have a book or any diplo favour, which would have been nice but I will take the latter by force soon enough... Muhahaha! I move my troops up toward his borders. Once he’s wasted his troops on America I will swing in to ‘assist’ with Frankfurt even if I have to raise it (which seems likely). João is willing to give me 143g to have a joint war against Ludwig, so that’s happening now then... This gives me map visibility and discovers Mount Vesuvius, boosting Astrology. War! What is it good for! Quite a lot in this case actually!  T72: I'm not well positioned for this war yet - my archers were all headed down to take out Chinguetti but I am not concerned that Ludwig can do much to me with what he has.  T75: After a bit of maneuvering and shooting I have taken out two slingers, weakened his two swordsmen and generally made a strong start. I am trying to ensure that my vampire is next to all kills (or makes them) so that his attack strength increases. T78: Things are looking good. State Workforce finishes. My vampire takes a beating but as he can’t die I pillage the theatre square knocking 10t off Political Philosophy and healing him back up. I get a governor title which I use to take Garison Commander on Victor. I swap in Conscription for Discipline (+7gpt), which seems better then Agoge as I can’t really afford additional units at present. T79: My archer attacking Frankfurt is hurt so I retreat him to heal. I don’t want to risk losing him but as America is still attacking the city I also don't want them taking it. My vampire steps onto the campus to pillage again for banter and science! I’ve left a theater square pillage to heal on the retreat if I need. My L3 archer moves on to the desert to find Mainz (start whittling down the inevitable walls) but gets hammered so I’ll retreat him next turn. T80: Iron Working unlocks. I start to pick up the 1t old techs with my powerhouse 6 science per turn! T81: T1 Government at a mere turn 81. Oligarchy is the obvious choice for the +4 combat on naval and melee units but I don’t actually need two military slots I can’t support a larger army at present. I go for Autocracy for balance, plugging in Charismatic Leader (+2 envoy points) and Strategos for some great general chat. Games and Recreation into Military Training next whilst I continue to pick up the old science techs (Astrology currently under way, writing has just finished). In time and with some pilliages I may even be able to upgrade my warrior into a swordsman! The encampment finishes in Misery City and I go for a much needed trader (5t). T82: Astrology completed, Celestial Navigation next (7t). Frankfurt is nearly dead and I was able to finish off a unit with my spearman for the boost to Military Tactics. Teddy gives me 12g for mutual open boarders. Ludwig offers me 6gpt for peace but he's going to be on the ropes soon.  T83: Frankfurt falls. Given that it has -12.3 loyalty I am going to have to delete it. Sorry Ludwig, sorry Frankfurt. I get a 2 charger builder out of it. My spearman marches back from the front. I think that I will chop out a settler in Episode IV to fill the space before someone else does and will take on Mainz next. Munich is the more obvious choice but I'll never hold the loyalty and it means that I will need to take it again after it flips, which just delays things. If I take Mainz first I may be able to take both cities quickly enough that I don't have to raise them. Loyalty shouldn't be such an issue once all of his cities are mine. 520g would be enough to buy two granaries – one to allow Episode IV to grow without a reduction (it’s 2/3 on housing), the other to give Misery City some positive food to do the same (it's not housing capped but the tundra doesn't assist its growth. That will be sorted in due course by vampire castles). 95 diplo to Portugal for 430g works a treat. I sell the rest of it (41) to Portugal for 9gpt and buy granaries in both cities. I’m now 17g+16, which doesn’t seem too bad for T83 with two dreadful cities. T85: My units would head over to Mainz but I’m still worried about the choke point to get there. I may be better to take the capital first. T86: My trader completes and I trade internally from the capital to Episode IV for the food/production and useful road. I queue up a settler. I also get my first envoy which I will save until I can plug in the card to double it.  T87: My vampire pillages the theatre square for health, my archers hold to try and tempt some units out Ludwig's few remaing units - I can kill them outside the city whereas in the city they just add to the defence strength (and ranged units can pepper away at my troops). T89: Celestial Navigation finishes and I start irrigation (3t). I place the Cothon/harbour in Misery City to lock the price but switch back to the settler (11t until I can do so in Episode IV). Ludwig’s catapult comes over to play and gets a smack. My spearman and the archer in Episode IV have healed sufficiently to join the fight.  T90: I finish off the catapult. Teddy gets my 8 iron for 2gpt. T91: A crossbow appears. This could be an issue. Games and Recreation finishes and I switch in Diplomatic League, putting the points in to Akad (Military), and switch out Strategos for Agoge. Military Training next. I may need more firepower here.
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Aug 15, 2023 18:11
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Szarrukin posted:I've tried to convince myself to Civ6 but I couldn't. I don't know why, it just doesn't click with me like previous Civs did. I won on accident in Civ 6 my first time through, on slightly above normal difficulty or so. Tourist victory against a few enemy nations. I was going for domination. I hadn't even attacked most of the nations yet. I hadn't even learned how tourism worked lmao Killed a lot of my desire to play 6 really. 4 and 5 are still excellent games though
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Aug 15, 2023 19:20
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 T92: A settler has completed in Misery City and I march it over to replace Frankfurt (the stone site is -14 still). I think about researching shipbuilding for embarkation to get to Mainz but I can’t see it working. Better to take Chinguetti and attack from two angles. The encampment finishes in Episode IV and I send the builder to chop the woods to help finish the walls (to boost Engineering more than an inherent need for walls at this point) T94: I chop the woods at Episode IV bringing the walls down to 2 turns. A spearman comes out of the fog, ventures into range of my four archers and gets obliterated. I really need crossbows or a great general and a catapult to take this war further. Getting through the choke point at Mainz is a serious issue. T98: The Medieval era starts (another normal age, amazingly given the cards I've been dealt in this game!). Free Inquiry is the only real choice again, lackluster though it is. A golden age would have been amazing. The walls finish in Episode IV, the Frankfurt settle is now -16 but stone is only -1. Stone it is. I found ‘City of Dreams’. It gets two desert tiles, two useful grassland hill tiles and two mountain tiles in its first (and probably only) ring, hence the (ironic) name. I place the campus and start on a monument, reassigning Victor to the city. I stop the settler in the capital for the time being and start on the Cothon. I need another governor point to get my second vampire (which confirms Defensive Tactic next). My archers will need to be upgraded to crossbows then sweep around the Southern ocean to take on Mainz. T99: Teddy makes me promise not to settle ‘near’ him. That nets me 30 diplo points, which I immediately sell back to him for 6gpt +17. Sadly, no one is interested in my Iron. T100: Military Training finishes and I take suzerainty of Akkad with my envoy. I switch Charismatic Leader back in and swap out Agoge for Veterancy so that I can build my barracks quicker.  T103: I declare war on Chinguetti for something to do with my military whilst I await crossbows and embarkation. T106: My vampire pillages for 106g, my archers take on a crossbow and a swordsman up North. T108: Chinguetti has two man at arms and one swordsman but I think I can just pick his walls apart and then storm in with the vampire. The war will be worth it for the XP and gold pillages alone. Teddy wants me to join his war with Joao, which I don’t want to do as he's my only trading partner.  T110: Normally taking out units is the important thing but Chinguetti’s units can’t do anything to me because of the terrain, so I’m not bothering. The Man-at-Arms could potentially attack my archer but it's in a good defensive position and should survive one hit. T112: Ludwig's crossbow steps near City of Dreams and immediately regrets it. I will finish it off next turn. T113: Crossbow down. Misery City starts on a lighthouse. City of Dreams will finish its monument next turn and will work on a campus. 15 more turns until crossbows. T116: Ludwig remains desperate for peace. He's not getting it from me. Military Tactics finishes, giving me another governor point and so my second vampire pops in the capital. I leave in Veterancy as I’ve five turns left on the barracks and can research Mysticism in 2 turns. My swordsman goes off to pillage Ludwig's campus and theater square at Munich for some much needed science/culture. T119: I switch to Mysticism and work on another trader in the capital. T120: Machinery finishes, I start Shipbuilding. I upgrade two units (both level 3). I sell 34 iron to Teddy for 9gpt+10 and upgrade one of my level 2 archers. T122: I start Kilwa Kisiwani in the capital. It’s a 44t build and I don’t have the medieval wonder card. I switch Agoge back in. Could it be possible that Misery City could build a wonder (and a clutch one at that)!?!?  T124: Chinguetti’s walls are down to almost nil but it took out an archer as a f' you. The walls will fall and then I will need to back off to heal. It will take a bit of time to whittle down the health of the city but I obviously need to ensure that the city doesn't repair its walls! It really doesn't help that he now has a crossbow in the city... Ideally I would bait the unit out and kill it before returning to take down the city (otherwise I will be under nasty fire whilst only haveing two spots from which I can fire on the city).  T133: It’s has been difficult to get a surround on Chinguetti sufficiently to do damage to its health. My vampire gets thrashed when he enters the water and will have to retreat or find a safe spot to heal to the West. Vampires do not heal quickly (their primary source of healing is to pillage) T136: I enter the renaissance era. In desperation I take reform the coinage. I'm in a normal age but there is nothing better. T138: The crossbow finally comes out of the city and my own units finish it off in one turn. Chinguetti has made a terminal mistake!  T142: I have managed to get a crossbow around the city and Chinguetti will finally fall. I can then take out Mainz and Munich and maybe make something of this game. T143: America declares a surprise war on me. I’m not overly fussed and the two Biremes may prove useful. City of Dreams starts on an Entertainment complex to address my entirely unhappy empire. T146: Chinguetti gets a musketman, which is entirely terrifying (upping its defence to 62 but it shouldn’t save the city from my crossbows and vampires as the walls are long gone). My Biremes are able to police the waters to stop American troops coming over to harass my poor cities. Chinguetti’s health is being slowly reduced. I need to break the city before it gets another crossbowman. I upgrade my swordsman to a man-at-arms. I start research into Military Engineering (in the hope of some Niter)  T149: Chinguetti should fall next turn. My Biremes are proving helpful in fending off American incursions (the three pictured units fall this turn). Those fools will feel my wrath soon enough. They’re bringing a Trebuchet over, which isn’t ideal but I should be able to kill it before it sets up. I have 5 envoys and put one point into Akkad (as I lost suzerainty this turn). I will use the other four once I can put in the relevant card (and ideally switch it back out shortly thereafter). I may be better to just get one point into the city states for the additional trickle: 1 culture, 4 science, 1 faith, which is actually significant given my limited income on each but I hold off to maximise the efficiency. T150: I could take Chinguetti but I hold off so that my vampire can pillage a mine (for gold and healing). An American knight is dispatched by two city shots, and hits from both units in the North of my 'empire'.  T152: Chinguetti finally falls. My vampire pillages for health and profit a quick heal and it will be on to Mainz. Portugal will give me 6gpt + 8 for 20 iron, which helps boost my healthy 592g-1.1 treasury. 58 diplo nets me a further 21gpt, taking me to a healthy +27.9gpt. T153: My crossbow arrives at Episode IV just in time to take out the Trebuchet which has been damaging my encampment walls. I use my vampire to repair the tiles at Chinguetti (which I did not know you could do). 280g purchases a trader in Chinguetti, which I rename to ‘Cold Hell’. T154: No niter, nor is there any on the map that I’ve revealled thus far. I start researching Stirrups. The game is starting to look less horrifically appalling. Germany is next on the adgenda!
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Aug 15, 2023 21:28
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 T155: It’s time to march on Germany. My troops move up the Eastern coast from the newly conquered city of Frozen Hell and from City of Dreams. Amazingly, the defending crossbow has stepped out of Mainz. Perfect. T156: I meet Mattias Corvinus of Hungary. He is a very long way away indeed up in the North of the map. His stats put him in second place behind Portugal but he does not appear to have much by way of military. I will need to scout out his territory and tech before I decide whether America or Hungary should be next against the wall after Germany. T157: I get some great pillages off at Mainz. The walls went down very quickly to my two-shot promoted crossbows. I will delay capturing it until I can pillage everything in sight. I may also hold off until Munich is close to falling so that I don’t have a loyalty headache. City of Dreams starts an Arena to try and stem the unhappiness in my cities – everyone one of which is unhappy as I don’t have a single luxury. T159: Teddy wants peace. I might consider it in a bit, at least until I can work out what I want to do.  T160: Kilwa Kisiwani completes in Misery City! For such a pathetic city it has done me proud. I shall make it the most sought after city in the world with some vampire castles in due course. Can you believe that I could have pulled off a Kilwa here! I’m still hoping that Episode IV call get me Mausoleum but without chops it looks a tough call. I start on a settlor (1 turn as it was mostly built previously and put on hold as it had nowhere to go). Episode IV needs to grow to 7 pop so I can consider dropping a Cothon and going for the Mausoleum. A lovely pillage finishes Medieval Faires and lets me plug in Diplomatic League and Serfdom (for Feudal Contract as won’t need more units for a bit until I’ve consolidated Germany’s empire within my own). Pillages finished, my vampire takes Mainz and securing my first luxury (which I decided not to pillage so that it goes online immediately). Happily the city is only -1.3 thanks to Victor’s presence, so I don’t even bother to move a governor. On that note, I use the new governor title to place Pingala in Misery City (at only T160, he might be considered somewhat late for most games). I switch science over to Butress (7t) for Cartography (18t). I will build two boats in Cold Hell to explore the map and will upgrade them to Caravels when I can for the boost. Cold Hell finishes its repairs and starts to work on two Biremes (and then a Quadririme?). I spend my envoys using the card to double my spend. I also note that Los Angeles is building the Forbidden City for me, which would be lovely if it gets it (although it’s a size 1 city so will probably lose out to someone else). It would make a fine addition to my own empire. T161: Mainz’ loyalty has dropped to -4, so I move Victor over. Not quite sure what was going on there but it doesn’t overly matter – I could probably have got away with leaving Victor put as I’m likely to take Munich quite quickly but I’d rather not take the risk. My settler finishes. America’s placement of LA has prevented my intended settling spot replacing Frankfurt. I could still settle on the Northern Rice tile but the area is a fantastic breadbasket which could be used for a vampire castle to boost my capital. I send the settler over to the four tile Tundra island to the East to secure some Turtles. T162: Some big meany says that it was bad of me to take Mainz and calls a special session of the world congress. I consider voting it up to ensure that it passes – there is no way that the AI will be able to retake the city now and my eventual success in the military emergency will give me a combat bonus against the AIs who took part and some extra diplo points which I should be able to sell. I’m intending to steal the AIs cities in any event, although some turns of peaceful consolidation would be lovely. In the end I don’t want to waste my diplo (my main source of economy) on stopping something that is almost certain to pass anyway given that everyone hates me. Portugal (my sole training partner) doesn’t vote, Hungry joins America and Germany in their war against me. I buy a Bireme in Cold Hell so that I can scout the island to the East before settling. I meet Ayuttaya via Hungary’s declaration of war and immediately put my remaining envoy in (for 2 envoys as the card is still in). Munich’s walls are falling fast to my highly promoted crossbows (and at 30 strength it couldn’t put up much of a fight. Note that pillaging a city’s districts will reduce its city defence as well as net you fantastic amounts of resources, although it will mean that the city won’t be productive for many more turns after I take it). T163: Ludwig moves one builder into the water (which my new Bireme can scoup up) and the other onto a tile I can steal. With no more envoys to spend I switch over to Drama and Poetry (3t) so that I can switch out the envoy doubling card. I’m tempted to let Munich complete the Kotoku-in before I take it (it will give ludwig 4 warrior monks but I can take his city before they can cause trouble) on balance it’s not a wonder I care about enough to delay so I’m just going to wait to see if I can get the builder in the water before I take Munich and he disappears along with Ludwig. I’m not going to pillage the religious district as I don’t need the faith and don’t want to have to repair it. I don’t need to lower the city’s defence. America would peace me out (despite the military emergency). His cities are now 52-70 defence, so I think about it but as he’s no real threat and I might still be able to steal the Forbidden City I don’t take the option.  T164: The builder moves back into the city, which I take, killing Ludwig and netting me 5 era score (I’m now 59/61 for a normal age). I get the boost to Civil Engineering. The Island East of Cold Hell is actually viable. I can get a +5 campus and a +4 Cothon plus three turtles. There is also an island to the North with a tribal village on, which might have some land to settle.  T165: I found ‘Teenage Ninja’ on the Eastern Turtle Island. I also consider my vampire castle situation again. I need food in the capital and there is a great spot above Episode IV in the area I was going to settle. I can’t see another good area on my current islands but to the North of Turtle Island is a land flowing with greenery, the like of which I have not seen in 165 turns. There is even a tribal village on the island which suggests that the island has yet to be visited or settled.  T166: America has cavalry. I think I will settle my way to better land (at least until LA finishes the forbidden city) rather than mess with cavalry and risk losing my highly promoted units. He won’t take peace at present so I may have to march on his cities to force his hand. The AI will often refuse peace unless it feels ‘threatened’ by your units damaging its cities.  T169: The land to the East is great and will net me several luxuries. Not only is there the Norther island but another two unsettled islands for the taking (one with a city state on it). Teddy still won’t peace me out so I’m go to farm some XP on his city and take it if he builds the forbidden city in time. T170: Hungary has landed a man-at-arms near Mainz. My diplo situation is so dire that I’m -8 which is impacting my ‘economy’. Once my deals end with Portugal in 12 turns I will not have any gold income any more unless I shift my trade routes over to gold or sort out this constant war. Mainz and Munch start on ancient walls lest Hungry attack in earnest.  T171: I make short work of Hungary’s units in the water, which I note are levied units. My vampire gets some welcome kills to up his stats. I’m now using the time to repair my new cities, consolidate and to build infrastructure in my empire. I’m now ‘only’ massively behind the AI in terms of science and culture but at around 1/3 of their levels I’m not hugely behind where I would usually expect to be at T120-150. I would expect my stats to ramp up in future turns, particularly as I have some very good campus sites available (or holy sites, not that I’m well placed to use faith at the present time). T176: Industrial era (normal again, I was 63/75). I take Hunt Sic Draconis as I will hopefully be discovering a large part of the map this era (and may also have some naval battles). 15 turns left on the emergency at which point I need to decide how to play this game.  T177: I do some planning of the new continents. I am going to need at least five settlers (one of which I already have heading to found the first city in the promised land with another coming across in a few turns). Naval Tradition completes and as I will shortly upgrade my two caravels. I can afford to switch in Colonization (to help churn out settlers). I switch out Urban Planning (+7 production) for Professional Army (to upgrade my Biremes). I send one envoy each to two new military states. T178: I found ‘Incensed’ and retreat my Brieme inside away from a nasty barb Caravel, running away with the other one. I need 360g to upgrade the boats.  T180: I found the city of Vampina on the Northernmost of my new islands. I also upgrade my second Caravel, boosting Exploration and allowing me to switch into Merchant Republic. My new government cards are as follows:  Colonial Offices might have been a useful pick but I don’t need the loyalty and 22 gpt is better than 15% growth in cities which look to have plenty of food. I am not entirely sure what to do about America. I remain tempted to let LA finish the Forbidden City then capture it but the other cities’ defensive strength and the difficult terrain make them very difficult to take. I might work on Castles next, buy a couple of Coursers and let them loose in Teddy’s land pillaging savagely wherever they can. I should be able to get access easily enough via my trusty vassal, Akkad. T181: LA spawns a field cannon and obliterates one of my crossbows. That is some scary badass stuff to be facing so it’s time to back off. LA has also just lost out on the Forbidden City (to Portugal in a city I can’t yet see) so it’s no longer the prize it might have been. I also lose a Bireme. I think that the time has come to remain defensive until I can peace Teddy out in ten turns (when the emergency is over). T182: Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (25t) started in Episode IV. I could delay for a lighthouse (6t) or university (8t) but it’s a great wonder so I’m to have a play for it. I steal a 1-charge builder from barbs up in the new lands. I need a further three settlers for the area – one is on the way, one will pop in the capital next turn and Cold Hell can see to the last.  T183: I lose an archer to an American Rough Rider (it wasn’t highly levelled so I’m not too fussed but carelessly lost units can make a big difference in games).  Oddly there are builders in the waters all over the areas I am exploring which the barbs have stolen at some point so it looks like I will be able to scoup up a large workforce. Hungary’s cities are at 75 defence but I suspect that more than just Buda, the capital, is costal so a navy may be the play here. T185: The field cannon comes too close to Episode IV and an encampment shot and double crossbow finish it off. My Quadririme near Yerevan steals a 2-charge Hungairan builder in the water. That’s three in as many turns with a 2-charge barb worker yet to steal. I’m not overly sure how I’m going to get them all back to safety!  T186: I finally meet the last player – Australia! I send him a delegation and offer to sell him everything I have before he hates me. He gets a steal but also sells me sugar for 1gpt+11. I buy two great works of writing from him as well to boost my culture a bit. T187: I steal another 2-turn builder from Hunary. Australia denounces me! America steals one of my settlers near Mainz (which I immediately kill, netting me another kill around my vampire and retaking my unit). A barb has taken another settler near Cold Hell which I foolishly allowed to wander in the water un-escorted (I thought that part of the water was safe) but which I will be able to take back soon.  T189: The Eastern part of the map looks promising. There are a number of smaller islands and coastal cities which shout ‘naval invasion’ if I can build a city capable of getting me a navy on this coast.  T190: Guilds finishes and I get another governor point, which I use to take my third vampire. Banking is boosted. The barb problems in the New World are becoming a serious issue. I need a navy to beat them back. In the homelands near Misery City I send my new vampire friend off to pillage stuff from America on the basis that he cannot die and I have no particular use for him otherwise. The Miliary Emergency ends in one turn, which will give me 200 diplo which I cannot currently sell to anyone. At least I’m only -3 for diplo.
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Aug 15, 2023 23:12
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OK so the current situation is this:
Here is the map as I currently know it (all shown with the appeal lens):     In terms of yields my reports screen is deeply saddening:  City states are here:  I can change my government this turn if I wish:  What I need to know from my fellow goons is:
Anyone who wants additional info, let me know and I will upload it tomorrow at some point. Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Aug 16, 2023 |
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Aug 15, 2023 23:58
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RBA Starblade posted:I won on accident in Civ 6 my first time through, on slightly above normal difficulty or so. Tourist victory against a few enemy nations. I was going for domination. I hadn't even attacked most of the nations yet. I hadn't even learned how tourism worked lmao My first game (on Emperor) went fine until I discovered a new continent with four players on it, all four of whom immediately declared on me, were an epoch ahead of me and crushed me like a grape. I didn't play again for a few months but it's by far the best game in the series and I highly recommend giving it another go in the lead up to Civ 7's release next year. Civ games always take a little time to settle and adjust balance and Civ 6 is now a near-perfect 4x to my mind. Civ 4 was amazing and I probably have more hours in that than any other title I've ever played. Civ 5 crushes its predecessor without a fight.
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Aug 16, 2023 00:08
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Bouchehog posted:My first game (on Emperor) went fine until I discovered a new continent with four players on it, all four of whom immediately declared on me, were an epoch ahead of me and crushed me like a grape. I didn't play again for a few months but it's by far the best game in the series and I highly recommend giving it another go in the lead up to Civ 7's release next year. Civ games always take a little time to settle and adjust balance and Civ 6 is now a near-perfect 4x to my mind. It just kind of put me off winning on accident building literally nothing towards that win condition because the ai was that poor tbh I didn't know Civ 7 was announced though gently caress yeah
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Aug 16, 2023 02:04
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I'd say go for a naval domination win. Unless you think that would be too easy.
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Aug 16, 2023 02:50
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[*]What victory type you think I should pursue? Culture. Domination and science are too straightforward. Culture should be more interesting/entertaining. [*]Are there any points I've missed thus far in the game or could be working toward now? Would it have been possible to conquer LA after Munich? [*]Where should I place my Government Plaza and what building should I go for (particularly as by the time it comes on I will have settled my new lands)? Decide after new cities are settled. [*]How I should rename my new (or old) cities? Existing names are great. I'll defer to others on exact placements of districts since I've always been terrible at it.
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Aug 16, 2023 21:54
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Boat Stuck posted:Culture. Domination and science are too straightforward. Culture should be more interesting/entertaining. I could have taken LA quite easily. I was hoping that it was going to build the Forbidden City and was holding off on it doing so. I could never have held the loyalty without taking Washington and Cincinnati but with bombards and great generals that should have been doable. I might as well get some value out of my army so if he won't peace me out I will give it the old college try! A culture victory might be possible I think but it will be difficult. Culture victories at deity level are often the most fun (requiring the most thought but the least micro). They usually require an awful lot of land within your empire with high appeal for National Parks (Conservation civic), seaside resorts (Radio tech) and ski resorts (Professional Sports civic). The Eiffel Tower (available at steel) is key as it boosts the appeal of your tiles, which means you can place more of the above and they yield more tourism. The research plan is usually to beeline Steel (Eiffel Tower) and then head to Computers (tech) to boost tourism by 25%. On the civic front Social media (Online Communities card gives a boost to tourism where I have a trade route) and Environmentalism (civic) for it's 25% boost are the play. Usually you would need an awful lot of builders in the late game as you rip up your previous improvements and replace everything with woods to up the appeal for National Parks. I'm a bit more limited here:
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Aug 17, 2023 11:52
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Culture sounds like an interesting challenge but I say just go for naval domination to get the quickest win. How much help do you think the vampire gave you at this point? Has it just made it a little easier/faster or has it ended up being really important?
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Aug 17, 2023 19:15
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At Boat Stuck’s request I am going to give a culture victory a try. Aside from diplomatic it is going to be by far the hardest victory type as I don’t have lots of spots for national parks and I am a very long way behind the AI indeed. My increasing culture should enable me to hold off any AI’s attempt at the same. I’m in the lap of the Gods as to religious victory at present. I will need to get some spies to help defend against the AI winning a science victory, which is by far the biggest risk in the medium term. T190: I start by completely replanning my empire to maximise theatre squares and tourism. I swap out the Veterancy card (+30% toward harbours) for Limes (+100% for walls) and switch production over to walls to take advantage of that. I have no amenity cards which can help out my dire situation at present. This will have to do for now. T191: I get 75g from the tribal hut by Esztergom and clear the barb camp near Vampina with my vampire. He can now drop down a castle on the island to further boost Misery City.  T192: The military emergency finishes and metal casting finishes. My relationship with the other AIs is sufficiently poor that no one will by my diplo favour, which is draining at -3 per turn. I kill a rough rider near Episode IV with my Bireme and crossbow and a Man-at-Arms by Mainz with my crossbow (giving my vampire a further boost). Walls are going up throughout my empire. I’m going to research Ballistics to upgrade my crossbows to field cannons and to get some Cuirassier. I have iron but no niter for bombards. My vampire near Mainz heads on over toward America to do some pillaging of their shizz whilst I work out what I want to do with them. I manage to steal a 3-charge builder from Hungary just North of Ngazargamu. T193: Teddy offers me 53gpt for peace. I refuse on the basis that I want to pillage some of his stuff first. Matthias of Hungary offers peace for 22gpt and diamonds. I refuse on the basis that I want to be able to flog him my diplo favour as well (and might lose the chance as a separate deal). He will take peace for 194 diplo points in exchange for 34gpt, 563 flat gold and diamonds. Not the best rate for my diplo points but it’s better than them just drifting away. I sell him mutual open borders for 2g. No one wants my iron or horses. I am now 702g +60.7. I buy granaries in Biruta (3/3) and Vampirina (2/3), which sorts out the housing in the two cities I can do something (Teenage Ninja will have to await a Cothon in due course, it’s 5/5) and Episode IV (9/8) can get a lighthouse when I can build it (or when I get 480g if I don’t think I will need this for unit upgrades). Mausoleum in 13 turns! Come on Episode IV! My vampire arrives at Cincinnati’s campus for some well-deserved pillages. He is smacked by the city walls between turns but will be able to pillage to heal up.  T194: My vampire in America pillages the campus twice whilst his friend from Mainz heads over to join the pillage fun. In five turns I can swap cards again and put in Raid to increase the yields. The fact that vampires heal from pillages make them idea units for this sort of thing, despite America’s strong wall barrages. I am slowly moving all of the captured builders toward Vampina Island, avoiding the legion barbarian caravels which patrol the area. I have an envoy but as it wont change any suzerainties or give my buildings better yields I will hold on to it for now. T195: for +3 era. Dessert Desert is founded NE of Incensed and another setter heads over the same island to get to the spot near Ayutthaya. It would be faster to take it by sea but there are a number of barb caravels around and my only escorting unit is a quadrireme, which won’t last long as an escort.  T196: My caravel on builder escort duty is hit badly by a barb caravels but fortunately has a promotion, I take Embolon to try and give him some more strength against the tirade of pirates. My quad hides in Dessert Desert and joins the crossbow in trying to get rid of the annoyance outside the walls. My vampire near Vampina has dropped a reasonable (16 food, 1g, 1 production) castle on the island. Once the builders get over it will be much better (the other castle for comparison is 13/2/4, both feed Misery City). I move him into the city to heal up so that he can escort settlers and builders. T197: I finish off both barb caravels. There are still more in the area hiding somewhere in the fog, including at least one below Incensed. Munich finishes its walls and works on repairing its Amphitheatre (6t). The city’s production is terrible and a library is 7r or market 19t. The latter will at least net me another trade route so I queue it up. I now have three envoys to use – I could take Ngazargamu away from Hungary or Milta away from Joao but neither is currently worth it. I keep them back – I may use them to try and get era score later (I’m currently 77/83 toward a normal age). Hungary is clearly heading down to steal my settle near Ayutthaya. I land the settler to try and block him (the settler lens suggests that the forest it the best settle and the AI might want that).  T198: Cincinnati kills off my Bireme (not that I’m overly fussed). My one vampire has retreated to heal up, the other lands to start his pillage run. I catch a Portugese spy in Munich (he won’t give me anything for him) and start building my own in Misery City. I swop Merchant Confederation (+22g) for Machiavellianism (+50% production for spies) and Raid for Limes, then realise that Conscription is only giving me +9 so I change the cards around to enable me to put MC back in for the extra gold. T200: Predictably, Hungary has founded the city of Debrecen where I wanted to found my own city. The suggestion is that it is -5 loyalty so I might be able to do something about it without having to go to war again. My vampire pillages an iron mine near Washington for 198g. City of Dreams has nothing to build. It can’t get me my industrial zone until pop 7, which will be some time away even if I shift trade routes over for food. It starts work on a 17t trebuchet for want of anything better to do (campus research grants might have been sensible too).  T202: My quadrireme exploring East of Ayutthaya (looking for a settling spot) is killed by a barb. There are no spots on the island with Esztergom, the island to the East of that city is -20. The iron south of Ayutthaya is hardly appealing. I think that the settler will either have to head up to found a bad city on Vampina island, or on one of the islands to the North. I put him into the water only to reveal yet another barb caravel...! T203: I buy a lighthouse in Incensed and start on a monument. I will get the entertainment district up soon. Between turns Hungary denounces me but the barb doesn’t capture my settler, which is an unexpected development. T203: Ballistics finishes and I go for Astronomy, as Misery City has a potato palace option.  T204: Northern Bliss is founded in the North of the map to claim diamonds and chocolate. I forgot to switch away from walls in a couple of cities when I removed Limes so I change production. A double pillage of an American industrial zone wipes 2½ turns off Astronomy. I will research Mass Production next for shipyards in my numerous cities, which should help the terrible production. T205: Another pillage of the industrial zone and my vampire is off for a pillage to the North. His friend lands (half-healed) by Akkad ready to pillage the entertainment complex.  T206: Would you believe it! I manage to get the Mausoleum in Episode IV. Look at all those lovely tiles! If I take Cincinnati I can take a few more for the city. Debrecen is no longer losing loyalty. I may need to declare on Hungary to get the National Park - you watch the AI build something on a tile I can't do anything about and deny me the park! I can’t find any niter save for one mine in some terrible tundra tiles East of Yerevan. It’s not worth founding a city there to claim it, but that means no bombards and no muskets. I will probably have to wait until oil drops and upgrade to artillery before I can take on America properly. Hungary has Huszars up and a number of cultists floating around. I wonder if he’s planning on declaring on me? No one will buy my spare diamond or strategics, or sell me anything... T207: A quick explore of the victory screen suggests that not much has changed. Australia is leading science with 48 techs researched to my 32. Between turns my second vampire (who was heading toward America’s entertainment district) is ‘killed’ by a city shot and returns to the vampire castle to heal. T208: Another pillage of a theater Square gives me The Enlightenment (which seems appropriate). Liberalism nets me 6 much needed amenities. I could build some cheap scouts and swap in Retainers for some more (at the moment it would give +2). I’m not sure it’s worth it given that my economy is only just building. I think that war is going to be the only solution in the short term. My science is catching up to Teddy but is half of Hungary, Spain and Australia have 2 1/2 times my output. Culture is one third that of Hungary. The only way that I will keep vague pace is with my "pillage the hell out of America" economy. It would be difficult to take his cities but should be easy to keep this pillaging going until I'm ready to envelope his empire. I don't see me winning any victory type (particularly culture) without this. In the Northern island my second settler arrives to found the second city, Loyaltyville (just in time I think as Hungary has sent a setter to the island too!). I buy the chocolate tile and bring it online immediately with a builder. My spy arrives at Lisbon and starts ‘gain sources’. The gold steals in this city will be insane - 2-3k every six turns with card plugged in! T209: Hungary steals the potato palace. Bah! That would have been useful. I may have to track down his city and take it. Portugal has a large navy of ironclad fleets floating around near Armagh, which might be coming my way (or America’s as they’ve denounced him too). T211: America has line infantry and rough riders (an upgrade to the cuirassier). His city strength isn't going up in any worrying way but until I get field cannon corps (or better yet, armies) I can't see me doing much to take his cities down.  T212: The industial era ends in four turns and I’m 88/97 so it looks like yet another normal age. 9 era score isn’t going to happen. T214: Boston takes out my vampire in one shot. My spy completes his mission in Lisbon and starts steal gold missions for 3,918g (!!) with a 63% chance of success. I start researching Square Rigging > Industrialisation (improved mines and a chance of coal) and will then shift toward refining for battleships. T215: Two pillages of a campus later and Square Rigging completes. I’m saving gold to purchase shipyards (for gold and production) but buy a trader in Incensed. I desperately need the gold and production if I'm to do anything in this game. It looks rather like the entire map is now settled so if I want more land I must pay the iron price for it. Where the hell are my drat dragons? T216: Modern era. I go with To Arms as I’m clearly going to have to go to war. Portugal is no longer mad at me. I trade him my luxuries for 6gpt (not great but I’ll take what I can!). He trades me sugar, whales and amber for 4gpt+14g and open boarders for 7g. He won’t take an embassy or friendship but if I can get a military alliance with him that would be great. He won’t join my war against America, which is a shame. T217: In the world congress I get culture bombs (despite not putting any votes in as I have no diplo favour). Melee units get +5, Hungary gets the diplo points and the World’s Fair starts. Portugal has a large army in the water near Boston. He has only declared against America so I can’t see that he has any other plans. I’m not quite sure why he won’t join the war with me but there we go – he still won’t take my embassy. My science surpasses that of Teddy! I’m only a couple of techs behind him and have 2 more science. The climb begins!  T219: Concerningly Portugal's troops have shifted my way. I used three envoys to take Milta from Portugal (in part as the city state can block his troops if he does attack and in part to enable me to move into America’s land and take his stuff. My vampire in American territory survives a city shot and runs toward Taruga to find a field to pillage for the heal. Joao will take 8 coal in exchange for 11gpt, which I take.  T220: My spy fails in his steal but lives to repeat the mission. I capture another of Portugal’s spies, who is determined to remove my governor in Munich again. I trade them back for 24gpt+6g. He still won’t take an embassy. Nationalism in 3t then I will be able to build fleets and corps and will consider taking out America. T221: A pillage of an American theatre district finishes Nationalism. I swop in Naval Infrastructure (+3 production +20gpt) for Merchant Confed. I get a governer point and promote Pingala with Researcher, moving him to Misery City (which at 13 is by far my largest) T222: Liang appointed and placed in T224: Joao takes 22 coal for 34gpt. I buy two great works of writing from Augstalia (who is now also trading with me). Still no embassy or friendships but I’m getting there. T226: 2,904 gold stolen but my spy dies. I forget to rebuild him, which is a silly mistake. I apologise for 30 diplo, which I sell back to him for 216 flat gold, which I use to buy a trader in Biruta.  T229: Some more pillaging ensues. America foolishly steps a settler out of his city toward my vampire, who gobbles it up and continues his pillaging rampage. If I can get it out I will, otherwise I will delete it to damage America’s economy further. America is throwing troops at Milta. Not going to happen, buddy. My vampire takes one rider out. My caravel fleet having pillaged all of Teddy’s water tiles goes exploring to reveal more of the map.  T236: Not much has been happening beyond my yearly pillaging of poor Teddy’s lands. I find the Galapagos and circumnavigate the globe. My vampire pillages his way into the water with his prized settler.  T237: I start work on two spies to replace my fallen chap.  T239: Refining finishes. My empire has no oil! Of course it flipping doesn’t! Why would it when it’s almost entirely made up of tundra?!? I can only assume that I am going to get godly amounts of uranium. America takes out a vampire, somewhat unexpectedly who returns to the castle near Episode IV to heal. I could do with trading for some niter and upgrading my man-at-arms so that my vampires are boosted. T242: Misery City drops a +5 neighbourhood on the useless snow tile. At least they'll be good for that and the castles provide a steady stream of food, gold and income. T248: Modern era will end in 8 turns and I’m 102/114. This is going to be tight if not impossible. A dark age might not be fun, particularly as I will be trying to take out America in these next few turns. T250: Seam power finishes. I purchase an engineer in Misery City so that I can build a railroad and get the era score if it looks like I can make it. I am currently 103/114 and only have six turns remaining... I don’t think that I’m going to do this, so will be in my first dark age. I think that most of my cities will be ok, although the Northern island may have some difficulties. I may need to take out Hungary as well in order to do this. Purchasing a field cannon and upgrading a corps into an army would give me one. Ditto with the navy. Checking the era tracker reveals nothing else which will finish in time (although I should be on for quite a few boosts next time). Time to have a think about the direction to take this. I have coal and so can make a start on battleships (which I will be able to upgrade to navies shortly thereafter). Boats can help me take out Boston and Baltimore without any issue, LA should be fairly easy to take too. Hungary is the other obvious military target as his cities are all coastal and will fall quickly to a naval force. I can then see whether a culture victory might be possible here.
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Aug 17, 2023 19:16
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Kangra posted:Culture sounds like an interesting challenge but I say just go for naval domination to get the quickest win. They can't die so are great for that. They also heal on pillage, so they just march through the territory munching on districts and improvements. Despite my huge disadvantage both in the start location and due to the AIs getting a massive boost in deity I'm surviving.
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Aug 17, 2023 20:42
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 Save file at this stage for anyone wanting it: here T251: I upgrade my Bireme into a battleship, my spearman into a pike and shot and my last crossbow into a field cannon. I purchase some niter and upgrade my Man-at-Arms to a line infantry. I sincerely wish that I’d built a round of Bireme’s to upgrade previously. I go through my cities and start to build battleships in every city where they’re 10t or less, save for Cold Hell, which can finish up its university in 10t and get me an ironclad 11t thereafter to join my caravel fleet at some point soon (it’s over the other side of the world, exploring and has just sighted an American ironclad who I suspect won’t like it. Happily it’s not a fleet, which is just as well as the Great Admiral attached to my fleet does nothing as he’s Industrial/Modern). I switch over from Mass Media into Theology (1t) so that I can change to the shipbuilding card, Press Gangs, to help out with a naval push. Annoyingly, I cannot upgrade my trebuchet into an artillery as no one will sell me any oil to let me do so (I should have upgraded it to a bombard before Steel completed). Boston is building Chichen Itza, which it will hopefully finish in time for me to take his city. I purchase a second military engineer to help build a railroad to transport my units to the frontline. Looking at the victory screen, Australia are 13/20 for a diplo victory but we should be able to stop that happening, they have also built a Spaceport and researched rocketry. Spies should be able to prevent a science victory. My big concern is Joao of Portugal is winning a religious victory. They’ve already converted 3/5 civs but looking at the map.   Zoroastrianism has ‘lay ministry’ which gives them +1 faith, +1 culture from every city following the religion with a Holy Site or Theatre square. They also have the Cristo Redentor. I think that I am going to have to go to war with them to prevent a victory, whilst destroying Australia’s space capacity with my spies. They’re only 7 techs ahead of me but have 1655 military to my 522...! Lisbon has 106 defence. I sell everything I can to Joao, which turns out just to be 87g for turtles and 849g for 40gpt. I use the additional gold to purchase 80 niter from Hungary for 44g+34gpt. That means I can start churning out some Line Infantry armies. I use the gold to purchase a workshop in Vampina to assist with production toward my navy. I could do with 1,320 to purchase the factory and another 1,200 for the coal power plant to assist with AOE production. I denounce my only trading partner on the basis that if I don’t kill them, or at least slow them now I will lose by T300. In 5t I will be able to declare war on them (which will stop my payments of 34gpt (but also stop their delivery of whales and cotton and the 110gpt they’re giving me...)  I have four turns to get another seven era score. I may have to resign myself to a dark age (perhaps followed by a very important heroic age?). When this happens it’s usually important to try and avoid era score until the next era triggers but as I know can gain two era score from connecting two cities with a railroad and another two by taking Ayutthaya back with 2 envoys (which will arrive next turn) and yet another by building an army, that will bring me one shy with four turns to get it. I’m bound to find or think of something. America has Renaissance walls everywhere, which will do some damage to my units. My field cannon and one line infantry are Industrial units. My current Great Generals are Medieval/Renaissance so I retire Timur on my line infantry (+1 promotion, +25% XP). The other great general was retired a few turns ago for -25% war weariness. I consider buying a GG with my faith: Samori Toure is available for a mere 970 faith and boosts modern/atomic era units. I go for it on the basis that a later era GG will be even less helpful to me! John Rockefeller is available (currently 5,820 faith and I have 1,903). He’s a merchant and I generate 1 point per turn so there’s no way I’ll get him, which is annoying as he grants three oil per turn, which would be a massive win right now. Australia has rocketry and has a spaceport. I see that Hungary is building three of them. Not great but I still have time and my spies are levelling. I can probably ignore Hungary on the basis that I’m likely to have to kill them anyway. They’re a later problem. I need to take out Portugal first Flight will be done in three turns (less with pillaging) so I will be able to get an observation balloon will help my trebuchet, which I will move down to stand on the oil SE of Cincinnati; with the obs balloon it should reach the city and can gently promote and take down the walls. That city will get me oil. With oil comes artillery which will significantly pick up the pace of my war. I will have to save for the obs balloon as I can’t now trade with Portugal.  T252: Misery City is at 16 pop thanks to the vampire castle, grows in 3t and have 21 housing thanks to the great neighbourhood which spawned. Happily the only city I can see building the Eiffel Tower is Misery City (26t). Shame I can’t afford the card to speed it up. I need to wait eight turns before my new navy rolls out. It would be useful to switch to production of Line Infantry in this city so I do. I also shift my field cannon army south so that it can stand next to the treb and protect the treb a bit (the terrain any my friendship with Akkad makes it pretty safe from attack anyway). To that end, my vampire near Boston pillages its campus (flight is but a sliver away). He’s now +20 from nearby deaths and it’s time to rename my brood. I name my +20 combat vampire ‘Countess P L'arge’ in honour of her sterling work in keeping my game afloat thus far. My +5 vampire becomes ‘Bloody Good Chap’; he’s currently healing up near Los Angeles but will return to pillaging soon. My rather useless +0 vampire becomes ‘Bloody Noob’ I use two envoys to take Ayutthaya from Teddy (+2 era, 4t to go and I should do this). My bombard arrives near Cincinnati (but I can’t use it until the obs balloon arrives). I will need visibility, so I will send my line infantry into the water to act as a scout. Press Gangs in. I would love to plug in Triangular Trade (+40g, +10f) but the 28 production, 28g from Naval Infrastructure and 9 amenities from Liberalism is too good. I can’t take out Total War (+50% pillaging) as it’s keeping my entire empire going. I get more envoys and use them to take Taruga as it will give a 15% boost to science in every city across my empire thanks to Kilwa. Best wonder in the game IMHO. T253: Teddy completes Broadway. I can also see that Portugal has finished the Cristo Redemptor in Lisbon, before I even have the civic to start it (which finishes in 7 turns). My spy arrives in Lisbon and tries again for a gold steal (2,958g 63% I think I’ve been rather unlucky with my spies thus far). Once he’s taken some gold for me in 6t I will start a listening post for the diplomatic visibility (giving me +3 combat strength). I complete a railroad between Misery City and Cold Hell, giving me 113/114 era (3t left, my field cannon will finish in Episode IV in 2t and join its friend to become an army for +1 era. An obs balloon will cost 575g and I have 369g. Amazingly, Joao will give me 1,170 for 60gpt, so I take that and buy an obs balloon in Misery City (leaving me 964g +63.5gpt). I can declare against him in 2t. Someone (Portugal again presumably) manages to remove Pingala from Misery City, which is annoying as he adds a lot of points.  T255: My trebutchet and observation balloon finally meet up and I open fire on the city for a massive 7 damage to the +300 walls. This will speed up with time. Bloody Good Chap arrives at Cincinnati’s campus and pillages for some health. As I have Akkad as my suzerain I will do full damage to his walls with melee units, which I am hoping will apply to my vampire so that I can hit the walls then pillage for health and profit. Episode IV finishes up its field cannon and I join it up with my corps for an army and +1 era score (115/115, normal age secured! I now have 1t to the next era and 13 era for a golden age...). The builder I stole from America is coming down south to build me an oil well once I’ve taken Cincinnati (although there’s a builder hiding in that city which will help as well). T256: The Atomic Era begins. Bodyguard of lies (+1 era for spy offensive operations) isn’t worth it as I only have two spies and need them to do listening posts soon. Wish You Were Here (artifacts) is possible – I could produce an architect in Misery City in 5t for x3 era but Mainz and Munich have no production to speak of (and won’t until I get the district up in City of Dreams). To arms only gives me score for killing corps and armies, which might give me some score but America has very few. I go for Heartbeat of Steam (+1 for industrial era buildings). I purchase the factory in Vampina (1,350). I switch over to Mass Media for the governor point (and corresponding new vampire). No one is building the Statue of Liberty so I feel comfortable continuing to build Line Infantry in Misery City. Joao has a navy headed my way (two ironclad armadas and a Nau). I can now declare a war on him but I fear for my one battleship. I might hide the battleship in Munich with the Great Admiral and hope that they come to me before declaring war. 10 damage to the walls at Cincinnati from the treb, 4 from the vampire... Not great stats. This could take some time. My first line infantry will finish in Misery City next turn – a corps near the Great General might stand up to the walls for a bit. A spy arrives in Adelaide and turns around to go to New York and start a listening post.  T257: One line infantry completes in Misery City. Hungary completes the Golden Gate Bridge (meh!) and my suzerainty of Mitla is stolen by Australia (I have no envoys to take it back). 3t before my navy will start to appear. Looking at the victory screen, Portugal has 47 cities converted with only 10 cities on the entire map under a different religion. I will hold off one more turn to get my battleship into Munich then I will need to go to war to try and slow his victory. Radio finishes. In the first properly good news all game I have two copies of Aluminium – one under Munich’s theatre square, one next to Incensed. I buy a builder in Incensed (4 charges, I don’t have the card in but do have the pyramids) to get it online asap. T258: Trader moved to City of Dreams to try to speed up pop 7 (for the potential factory). The attach from my line infantry Corps against Cincinnati isn’t worth it, so I will have to await arm status / a listening post. 8 health taken off the walls this time by my treb shot (263/300). My vampire pillages the theatre district for health, which completes Mass Media. That gives me another governor title, which I use for ‘Endless Night’ which in turn gives me ‘Count P'illage’ who immediately heads off through Akkad to start pillaging. I take another round of gold for gpt from Joao and declare a formal war on him. I sell my massive stockpile of 4 diplo to Hungary for 14g (I’m back to negative diplo). Australia will give me 10gpt for incense, which I take. He will also give me 262g for 7 aluminium, Hungary gives me whales (which I lost from Portugal) for 5g+1gpt. I see an opportunity to hit a Line Infantry Corps from Armagh (who I’m also at war with) T259: A proper war! Between turns a Portuguese Ironclad fleet and armada both have a bash at my battleship, so I limp into Mainz (I’m blocked from Munich) and open fire from the walls and with my battleship. I’m able to steal a builder (1 charge) belonging to Aamagh as well.  My spy successfully steals 2,958 from Lisbon and promotes. I get Quartermaster (a useful promotion to take on spies that are stealing gold as it’s a low risk mission anyway and they can promote into a counter spy), covert action (unrest, which is meh) and Linguist (25% reduction in mission time) I go for Linguist. He will start a listening post next turn. I buy a coal power plant and sewars in Vampina. My caravel fleet gets upgraded for 580g. 4 battleships will complete next turn. My treb hits Cincinnati for 11 damage and a promotion. T260: Portugal pillages one of my trade routes near Biruta. Four battleships appear and head over to deal with the ironclad issue over there. I will form fleets or armadas with them once I’ve cleared out the earlier units (the more shots should be better against the lower tech unit).  T261: Jaoa still has 10 cities unconverted so my plan may be working. Portugal pillages another of my traders near Biruta but it will cost them. I group up my boats (you don’t get flanking bonuses for ships but I want to merge them soon) and take out the three groups of ironclads nears Biruta for +5 era score. My field cannon army shoots at Armagh for XP. I’m not sure I want the city (at risk of a global intervention) as it’s pretty bad but my Pike and shot can safely pillage the holy site for some faith (not that I’ve got a particular use for it). I pillage gypsum and iron near Washington with Bloody Good Chap. I pillage the holy site at Armagh for faith. T262: Misery City produces a Line Infantry unit which I combine with my corps to make an army. It should do some work against Cincinnati. My battleships combine to form fleets (with one promotion each after killing a Portuguese unit). I trade some Aluminium for 15gpt, which as my income is currently pretty poor (thanks to my trade routes being killed). I purchase a zoo and two traders in City of Dreams. I would like to get the factory up there still (4t to growth).  T263: Two barb Pike and Shot appear by Washington (presumably out of the pillaged neighbourhood – not sure what happened otherwise). I will kill them with my new vampire (named ‘Baron Pilfalot’) to get some levels on him and move up Bloody Good Chap. My spy arrives in New York and starts a listening post there. T264: Between turns my level 2 battleship takes a huge hit from the American sub (levied) and Portuguese battleship. It’s extremely lucky to survive. I bring up the other sole battleship to make it into a fleet. I move my field cannot corps and army toward Cincinnati and land my vampire and Line Infantry Army.  T265: The Line Infantry gives a good hit to the walls (thanks to Akkad’s bonus) with surprisingly little damage. My field cannons, Line Infantry and Vampire make short work of Cincinnati’s walls. Not quite enough to finish the city off but it will fall next turn. I can then upgrade my Treb and roll through America with increasing speed. The world hits flooding level 2. I am 5t from computers (which I will need to get sea walls up in Misery City, Teenage Ninja, Incensed and to protect several other tiles, including my lovely chocolate in Northern Bliss). T266: Cincinnati falls and the oil well goes up. Loyalty isn’t actually an issue but I move Victor over for the combat bonuses. A triple pillage of St Louis’ Industrial Zone gives me enough science to finish computers. City of Dreams finally gets to place its Industrial Zone (10t thanks to the traders). Misery City will finish its archaeologist (1t) and get flood barriers (5t) and a military academy (7t), although I might purchase that for 1,320. I should now be spending gold on seaports, which will really help out my newer cities. They’re 1,760 each but I think that I can plug in the card and bring down that cost. Will have to check on that. T267: Washington hits my field cannon corps hard so I move it back to heal at Cincinnati. My treb upgrades into an artillery unit. It would be 1,030 for another or 6t in Misery City. I switch over to producing one (the sea walls can wait a little longer in this city). My archaeologist finishes in Misery City and digs up my first artifact. My gold is terrible (I need to pillage more!) but I’m able to sell some turtles to bring me into positive gpt (+6).  T268: Hungary denounces me then a special world session is announced to condemn my stealing Cincinnati. I vote it down but my expectations of defeating the motion are pretty low. Yet amazingly:  I do some pew pew with my boats and combine some new battleships into armadas. I note from the victory screen that Portugal has only 9 cities not under its god-bothering belt. Time for my new navy to go knock on its doors I think... I switch out my navy building card for Levee en Masse (+30gpt) given my poor gold situation I don’t want to start losing units. I then realise that triangular trade is worth +40gpt and +10 faith, so I plug that in instead. T269: The American nuclear submarine fleet keeps being a menace to my poor battleships. I narrowly miss out on killing it. I gain Margaret Mead (Great Scientist) for 1k science and culture, who I take. I steal an American builder. T270: I still have a whole bunch of Portuguese ships to smash through before I can make it to Lisbon. I can also upgrade my Line Infantry to Infantry (at a cost of oil and for gold I don’t currently have).  T272: More pew pew. I’ve now largely cleared out the Portuguese navy. My army is moving on LA, my artillery is working on the walls of St Louis (which one of my vampires can then take down). My navy will bypass America and move on Portugal. I lose suzerainty of Akkad, which is a problem as it’s helping me take down the walls of the various American cities. I switch to opera and ballet (5t) for the two envoys. T273: Creeping over toward Portugal reveals yet more navy on the way so I retreat with my rather damaged battleship armada. LA has hit my Line Infantry army hard but it has a promotion. I retreat it along the railway I’ve built in American territory to heal. LA should fall next turn.  T274: LA falls under the mighty heels of Countess P L’Arge. It has 25 turns before it rebels. St Louis’ walls are about half health. America is doomed.  T275: Austalia denounces me. No one will trade with me (save for money exchanges). The IZ finsihes in City of Dreams but I can’t afford to purchase the workshop given my gold situation at present. Australia steals another military city state from me. I need some spies to sort out my gold and city state situation. I note that Australia have launched the moon landing. I have four battleship armadas, one ironclad armada, four vampires, one line infantry army, one pike and shot army, two field cannon armies.  T276: Another stock take I think. The world hates my guts. The only thing I can sell is aluminium - Hungary will buy 2 for 1g or Australia 1 oil for 1g to. Not ideal. No one will sell me any luxuries, which is also not ideal given that 4 cities are displeased (-15% growth, -10% yields), 10 are unhappy (-30% growth, -20% yields) and only 2 content. Housing is a similar story with only 6 of my cities growing at full tilt.  Victory-wise, Austalia has launched the moon landing but does not yet have nanotech for Mars. He’s 68 techs to my 52. Hungary will launch earth satellites shortly. He’s 60 techs to my 52. Joao is only 4 techs ahead and Teddy is 3 behind. Joao has 50 cities converted with Australia still unconverted (5 cities left of his 7 cities) and Hungary (4 cities left of his 9 cities) My diplo points are 0 -3 so there’s not money there. My gold isn’t too bad at 781 +43gpt. Margaret Mead sneaks out of Dessert Desert on her way to Esztergom (she needs to get to a ‘friendly’ foreign power) only to discover two Portuguese ships – a very damaged ironclad fleet and a caravel. I am 143/142 on era score with 20-40 turns left to go to get the 156 points needed for a golden age. I get three envoys from the standard tick over and take back Akkad. Bloody Good Chap joins the attack on St Louis and Baron Pilfalot takes out a barb which was bothering Mohenjo-Daro (largely for the +1 attack strength). My suzerainty of Ayutthaya has been broken by 1 envoy. Opera and Ballet will give me two when it finishes next turn so I will be able to take it back. John Curtain has also stolen Ngazargamu from me, which sucks so I could also use the two . The world is gently flooding and is currently at level 2 with level 3 expected in 4t. My empire won’t be too badly affected save for Northern Bliss losing its precious chocolate. I am going to have to get some engineers over there to help out.  T277: World congress. I vote to ban coal power, spies should disrupt rocketry better (God I wish I had diplo to dump into this!), Australia to lose 2 diplo points and world games to pass. I lose on all save world games, Teddy gets the points. The world hates nuclear despite the rising sea levels – that would never happen in real life! Opera and ballet finishes, I don’t change my government up despite Merchant confed calling to me:  I pillage a trade route for 517g with a battleship and continue my slow sail West to Lisbon. I sink one boat and find a nuclear sub armada, which two of my battleships are able to open fire on and severely damage. There’s also a lone ironclad but that’s little threat. I kill the ironclad fleet near Dessert Desert, which has foolishly sailed into city shot range. My battleship there escorts my Great Scientist over the water to get me my science/culture. She will have to go to Australia as Hungary denounced me and we no longer have open borders. St Louis falls to an artillery shot (before I combine him with my other artillery to make a corps). It will cost me 1,720 or 7t to get a third to make an army. Loyalty is an issue so I move Victor over and assign Liang to LA. They will rebel in 10t and 8t respectively. Things should be fine once I take Washington. Episode IV finishes its seawalls. I could start training some athletes for the world games but as Australia is only 15/20 and Hungary 12/20 I still have some time. I purchase the military Academy for 1,320g (3 era score bringing me to 149/156) and start work on a 20t Cuirassier army. I maybe should have used the gold to get a workshop and factory in City of Dreams but gold will come again.  T278: My battleships finish off the damaged nuclear sub armada, damage another such armada which has just appeared and kill a sole nuclear sub. There are more near my ironclad fleet, which is low on health so I retreat it toward Munich (noting that a Line Infantry Corps has appeared from Armagh - I more my sole Line Infantry over). Two rough riders appear near St Louis. I’m not sure how. One threatens my artillery but a shot from it and two vampire hits finishes it off. There’s another in the water, which will be dealt with next turn. I need my artillery to start working on Washington. Baron Pilfalot helps himself to an American builder, which I will sneak back down toward Washington. T279: My oil is falling 1 per turn becuase my oil well is flooded. Cincinnati has 35t left on its sea defences so that job #1 for my engineers. T280: A quick pillage of Teddy’s gives me Fascism (and 2 era). I switch my government as follows:  I usually prefer democracy for war, despite the production and combat boosts of fascism as I prefer the card slots and boost to gold. St Louis will rebel next turn. That’s an issue for my artillery which is sitting rather exposed there. I would also like to upgrade my obs balloon to a drone for the extra range and combat strength but I can’t afford to. T281: St Louis rebels. It will flip back to Teddy in 10t. My bigger issue is the two infantry units who appear. I move my field cannon corps to hit the one threatening my artillery and shot with all I have. It lives on. Hopefully Akkad will help me out. I note that there are a number of tasty looking traders around Lisbon. I pillage one for 615g. My Great Scientist arrives and completes Professional Sports and boosts Advanced Ballistics, also netting me era score bringing me to 154/156. A golden age beckons! T282: My battleships decide to stop off at Boston and knock out the walls so that my vampire can take it. The city will rebel very shortly but I will be able to retake it. I really need to take out Washington to hold these cities. T283: Golden age secured (in 13-33 turns!). I purchase a builder in Boston to get the coal there back online (I’ve run out!). My battleships turn their attention to Baltimore, which a Turkish cultist annoying prevents me from taking.  T285: Someone calls for a special session of Congress to (a) help Australia recover from a natural disaster (which I’m in favour of so AIs waste their gold) and (b) kill me for taking out LA. As a result, Hungary joins the war against me, Australia does not (although they have denounced me). One battleship armada take down the walls at Boston and my Pike and Shot army retakes the city (but not before earning a little XP on my field cannon by killing off an Infantry unit). Bloody Noob pillages New York’s government plaza to complete Cultural Heritage (I don’t change cards). I take back Mitla with 3 envoys and I have sent Amani to retake Ayutthaya. I’m at war with Taruga (Hungary’s vassal). Washington will finally fall next turn. Two of my battleship armadas turn their attention on Lisbon. Finally! T286: I take Washington and make peace with Teddy for 558g, 16gpt, all his 50 niter, 30 iron, 20 diplo (which I sell to Australia for a whopping 20g) and get to keep all of his cities. That will free up a spy for other ‘duties’. The T287: The era will end in 9t (I’m 174/156 for a golden age thanks to all my killing). I am cranking out builders to get ski resorts up. I’m going to switch into Democracy at the next opportunity I think. I start to pillage Taruga with Countess P L’Arge. There are two nuclear sub fleets and a solo nuclear sub outside Munich. I assume that they’ve come to see the pyramids?  An artillery shot, two field cannon shots and Baron Pilfalots’ gentle ‘persuasion’ later and I reclaim St Louis for the motherland. It has stable loyalty. Teddy doesn’t hate me but has nothing to trade. Boston will flip in 3t and Balitmore in 11t. I assume that’s down to Lisbon having 25 population. I have a solution for that now that I’m a fascist... T288: My artillery upgrades to expert crew. I consolidate a bit with a few turns of shooty shooty. My builders are at least helping with the amenity issues by spamming ski resorts wherever possible. City of dreams is ecstatic! My other cities are largely grumpy still but things are easing. T292: I lose a battleship fleet to the subs near Mainz. Joao has taken a further city – Hungry and Australia now have four cities apiece not under the sway of the dreaded Zoroastrians. Once I am able to take Porto I will have the Venetian Arsenal and so I can build a larger navy with ease. Plastics will come in 3t and 5t after that I will be able to upgrade my battleships to missile cruisers. I’m not sure that anything other than a military victory is going to work now but we’ll see.
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Aug 31, 2023 18:53
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I think you got this.
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Sep 1, 2023 00:26
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Impressive work so far.
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Sep 1, 2023 02:03
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Thanks. It's still far from over. I've no idea whether a wave of religious units is currently smashing away the last few cities. That's a bit like the proverbial sword of Damocles and has been for the last 80 turns. The science victory is going to be a worry soon too. It has been significantly more of a grind than I would have liked - I had thought that the German cities would be at least half decent but they're pretty bad, so once I'd broken away from the initial horror of the start I still wasn't free. Ditto the islands to the East, which have ghastly production, which you'd usually 'fix' by giving them traders but I've been so pressed for everything else that it took an age to get up that infrastructure. My total war has robbed my ability to trade for gold and buy important infrastructure for these cities. The nail in the coffin was the absence of niter then oil despite my large and largely tundra and desert based empire! That has crippled me (and the one oil I've now conquered is flooded because I didn't act fast enough to get engineers to finish it in time). Now I'm at war with Hungary and plastics is near (for offshore rigs) I guess I can go get some more. If not for the coal I'd have been in even more trouble! The only break I've had has been the boon of free builders and having the AI vote down that earlier intervention (and Australia not joining this one). Having aluminium at least means I don't need to kill someone for it! At least I should have plenty of uranium...
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Sep 1, 2023 11:44
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 T292: Time for another quick stocktake. Atomic era will end in four turns and I will be in a golden age. That will sincerely help with loyalty in the cities I intend to steal from Portugal. My empire’s happiness is still in the sewer but the numerous ski resorts I’ve been deploying are helping out. I will also get some entertainment up for my people in the near future. This should be fixable.  Australia is 16/20 on a diplo victory. I need to keep a close eye on this. Portugal is winning the World Games with 142 points. A quick search reveals that there are no stadiums on the planet and Portugal has three Aquatics Centres – two of which are close to my boats. No one is else competing and there are 13t left. Gold place will get 1 victory point, 2 tourism for campuses, stadiums and aquatics centres plus 50 diplo. Cold hell completes it’s world games project next turn. I could pillage the water parks next turn and see how many points I get from the project before deciding whether it’s worth competing. The only other person ‘competing’ in the aid request is Teddy. He has 0 points, I have -22. You get negative points from producing CO2 and from being at war. Normally a gift of 1 gold (plus enough to get rid of the negative points) will be enough to win but I will need to work an aid project here. Australia still hasn’t launched his mars colony but does have nanotech and smart materials so this is extreme danger time. I don’t yet have rocketry. My spies must start attacking his spaceports but I can’t see them. No one is anywhere near a culture victory; Portugal still has a religious victory heavily on the cards. John Curtin only generates 91 faith per turn, so his 4 cities will likely fall. Hungary generates 369 faith but only has four cities following his religion. Portugal has 243 faith per turn, which I can vastly reduce by taking his two main cities. If I could peace out Hungary and get open borders, I could station some units in his unconverted land and take out any units headed his way. Looking at the religion lens the cities won’t convert passively. As this isn’t going to be an option any time soon, it might be worth sending some boats over there to take out religious units in the water. Sadly I don’t have any to spare (anything isolated, even at armada level, will likely be killed off by ships appearing from the fog).  City states are fine. I’d like Taruga for the science and would love both cultural states but I’m happy with having two miliary states under my control (which boosts unit production, both military and civvy, by 15% across my empire and 30% in Misery City). I still can’t see anyone else building the Eiffel Tower so I could get that at some point too. There’s no great rush as I suspect I’m not going to be able to easily pull off a tourism victory in the next 55t or so (assuming Australia hasn’t reached the stars before then). My tourism just isn’t strong enough and I don’t have the land for nation parks. The seawalls I have been building throughout my empire are largely completing too late to cope with the sea level rises (the cost goes up with the sea level). I will finish them in Teenage Ninga to stop the diplo quarter going under at 3m (flood at phase V, underwater at VII). The global sea level has flooded to 1.5m which should flood tiles at or below 2m. Any flooded tiles where I have seawalls built should have been repairable after the sea walls completed:   Phase IV will submerge 1m tiles next turn which sadly means that my chocolate tile will be underwater and lost forever and I can’t save it. I doubt I could have unless I had made a huge effort (and I’ve had a fair amount on my plate this game). Sadly, the only other copy I have revealed is under Valletta’s land and they’re not my city state. The game has a glitch where the seawalls sometimes don’t show after a reload which is why they aren’t showing in the pics (or in game). Looking at the oil tile at Cincinnati, it’s a 2m lowland tile. Level IV next turn will submerge 1m tiles and I’ve already built the sea walls. I’m not sure why I couldn’t repair it earlier. I will send a builder over to try removing and replanting the oil well in the hope that it’s just a bug. There are a number of Hungarian and Portuguese units threatening my empire. I pillage the niter mine at Mohenjo-Daro for some money, which I use to upgrade my Cuirassier. I hadn’t intended to until I got more oil online but I need the extra firepower to get rid of the units in my territory. All-in-all I’m now in passable shape. I need oil badly to continue my way, I need more units – ideally with the Venetian Arsenal (which will double the production). I need to pillage more to get gold. I really, really need to get some spies over to Australia. Although they have less military than me, they will have giant death robots already (as does Hungary, scarily). T293: I kill off the rocket artillery army which landed by Munich using my tank and field cannon armies. I nearly kill the nuclear submarine fleet by Cold Hell but it survives with seemingly zero health (at least none in the bar). I pillage Lisbon’s harbour and Porto’s IZ for gold, which I use to buy the oil power station in city of dreams.  Levi Strauss (Great Merchant) is available for 5,843 faith (which I don’t have). Carl Sagan (3,000 toward a space project) is also the next Great Scientist. He’s a must grab to stop Australia winning the space race, or to start my own if I can. I’m technically most likely to get him but only just and I will work some campus projects to help the situation out. I start one in Mainz (15t) and queue one up in Misery City (5t) after it finishes its research lab in 4t. [timg]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53164192839_118cb06fbc_k.jpg[/img] The ‘train athletes’ project finishes in Cold Hell for a mere 50 points. I would need to complete several more in the remaining 12t to get 1st place so I won’t bother – Portugal can have one last victory before his death. Plastics finishes and I start combined arms to reveal uranium. T294: A few pillages around Porto and I finish Combined Arms. I have one copy (!!!) of uranium by Loyaltyville. I immediately buy a builder to get it online. I am going to need Giant Death Robots and probably nukes to pull off a win here, so this is a vital resource. Admiral Nimitz arrives. My ironclad fleet ventures out to see if it can scout out the Australian spaceports. It immediately runs into a whole load of Portuguese subs and will inevitably die next turn. Never mind. T295: I repair my oil well in Cincinnati. Not quite sure why it wouldn’t let me immediately after I’d completed the seawalls there. This is important – I am now neutral on oil and plugging in Resource Management would increase this further.  T296: A golden age dawns. Can I take anything other than Automaton Warfare? Bodyguard of Lies would probably have been a sensible choice to prevent Australia’s science victory but as I still don’t see the cities of his which have spaceports it’s a better choice to go GDR! He marches over to join the front at Lisbon. GDRs are city killers for the most part with upgrades in the future tech part of the tree – including the all important particle beam upgrade at ‘Advanced Power Cells’ which enables it to slice through cities.  Rocketry completes. My AT army dies to a machine gun near Boston between the turns, which is also annoying. I’m losing units carelessly here, which is not a good idea. T298: Capitalism finishes. I currently need production and builders (for ski resorts and coastal hotels) so I trade out Total War for conscription (30g) for Five-Year plan (+10 prod, +33 science). I quite like the idea of putting in the builder card – it’s usually in every government I ever have but I’ve simply not had the chance this game but I’m not now building enough builders to justify it. I switch out Triangular Trade (+40g, +10f) for Resource Management. Here’s my government:  A pillage of Lisbon’s campus completes Satellites and another makes a good start on Synthetic Materials. Two pillages at Porto also nearly finishes Cold War – I’ve currently abandoned any hope of a tourism victory. Sorry ‘Boat Stuck’, I agree that it would have been the most interesting victory but there’s not way I can pull this off without losing to a Portuguese religious or an Australian/Hungarian science victory. I haven’t yet decided which T4 government I’m going to hit but it’s the same path to all three (I’d otherwise be going for environmentalism for the +25% tourism). I upgrade my field cannon army and corps to machine guns – I have the cash and I could do with the extra firepower. I use the rest of my gold to buy a shipyard in Northern Bliss – I really ought to use a bunch of my gold to be buying seaports in my coastal cities to make them productive. I have an oil well at Washington which will come online soon.  T300: Lisbon falls to my GDR. Nice that it happened at T300! It has taken quite some time to take down because of Portugal’s naval power (largely a result of the Venetian Arsenal). It has no loyalty issues thanks to my large local empire and golden age. That’s fortunate as it avoids the need to take the two city states. Australia has research Smart Materials and is no doubt working on the Exoplanet Expedition. The only way I am going to stop him is with force. The AI doesn’t often spend huge amounts of time dedicated to projects to speed up the victory so I should have 25-50 turns to take him out. It’s annoying that I can’t see his spaceports for my spies to have done their thing! My beleaguered battleships back off West to heal up and become missile cruisers (I’ll need to pillage for gold to do this). I will then send them up toward Hungary. Annoyingly they sight a Portuguese sub (a solo) who I only get one shot on. I made a very serious mistake here about 50 turns ago. I really should have sent boats to scout out Australia’s spaceports so that my spies could have disrupted them. That would have given me more time to act. I strongly suspect that it’s going to cost me the game here. At the time I thought that I would do exactly this with the one battleship I had but in the moment I chose to use it to help out with the war in the hope of discovering his cities later. That was a short-sighted mistake. Big oops. I’m very much in two minds about taking Mohenjo-Daro and Taruga. Looking my 21 cities, 12 have campuses, 7 have theatre squares. The former is currently worth a potential 42 culture, although I don’t have any broadcast centres and only one architectural museum. The latter is a potential 72 science by keeping, which is more likely to come to pass (but the city is in the middle of my path West to Portugal’s territory. My concern is that I will trigger a congress and have Australia join this war before I’m ready to take them on. I really don’t want to have to deal with a war on three fronts. I plug in International Waters (+100% toward all naval save carriers) and switch over to battleship production where it makes sense. I would like to take the Venetian Arsenal before they finish up (in around 9t). I will need to conquer some more oil in order to upgrade everything to missile cruisers (at Lasers) but battleships will suffice for now. I switch over to nuclear fusion > Lasers so that I can I need 420g to purchase another drone and speed up the latter. Hungary now has 6 cities in its religion, up from four at T292. I need to remain at war with Portugal for now but I feel less need to immediately crush them with everything I have. I’m -60 on my ‘send aid’ to Australia, so I start a 2t project in Misery City. One or two projects should secure me the win (which is definitely worth 4t of production). My cities are still mostly unhappy but I’m slowly bringing them up. T301: Annoyingly a battleship dies between turns. Baron Pilfalot starts his long journey up to Hungary to pillage his districts.  T302-306: I take out a few Portuguese units in the water, purchase a drone for Lasers and do a bunch of shooting. My ‘aid request’ project gives me 113 aid, which will last the 8t left on the aid request and win it for me unless Australia gets serious very quickly. My plan at present is to whittle Porto down using my artillery and GDR and then take it before my new missile cruisers finish. My three battleship armadas are going to head over to Szekesfehervar (which has two oil in the water) and Kolozsvar (which one) the I will probably work down from Pest (it has oil under the Etemenanki) to Miskolc.  T306: Joao wins the world games, I come second. Baron Pilfalot double pillages at Miskolc and get me Rapid deployment, which I use to plug out triangular trade (+40g, +10f) and put in Force Modernization (50% gold discounts on upgrades). Between turns the world congress hits. I vote for all players to have the same nukes as me (i.e. none), for Australia to lose two diplo points and for the climate accords. All three pass (Australia gets the population growth but less loyalty, which I don’t care about). Australia is back down to 16/20 on diplo (I’m 5/20). I will need to make sure he doesn’t win the climate accord to get back to 18/20. T307: Annoyingly I forget that there is a bug with GDRs where is shows the bombard animation on right-click, but doing so runs the unit over to the city for a melee attack. Annoying but he’ll be fine. I use my machine gun corps to take out a sub armada. 7 turns left on the military emergency. An enemy spy recruits partisans near Misery City and they pillage my neighbourhood. I’m now 22/22 housing in that city. T308: The walls at Porto are 182/300. I purchase an artillery unit in Baltimore (1,460g) using last turns’ pillaged gold and will use it to upgrade the corps into an army, which should help a bit. My flood barriers in ninja turtle don’t quite finish in time and jump up another 12t so I purchase another engineer in Misery City to go finish them up. My vampire near Porto finds a Portuguese artillery escorting a settler, which I pilfer. T309: My spy is killed in Townsville. I don’t bother promising not to do it again (30 diplo) as I have every intention of doing so and the grievances hardly matter at this point. My fleet moves ever Westward and would be in a position to upgrade next turn if two of my pillaging vampires hadn’t just been ‘killed’ between turns. The victory screen shows me that Australia has now launched the exoplanet expedition. That means he launched on T308 (in many ways very late, the AI usually gets there long before). I now have until T358 to win the game of completely kill off Australia. That timescale will come down quickly if he starts to complete city projects to speed up the trip (which his science will enable him to uncover very soon).
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Sep 4, 2023 18:49
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 This is the big problem at present. I have no idea where his spaceports are. If I could pillage all of them then I can pause his science victory until he rebuilds them. That would give me time but seems unrealistic – in order to pillage them without a legion of spies I would need to be at war with him. That will take too long. I will have to take and hold his capital. Link if anyone wants to download the game file and look around, or play it out themselves: Here Time for a final game plan Happiness is starting to come under control and my lands are pretty secure, despite the war with Hungary and Portugal:  Hungary has 7 cities under its religious control but 376fpt to Joao’s 125fpt. Joao has one holy site at Coimbra and may have another city with a holy site SW of Braganca in addition to the (largely unpillaged) site at Porto, which will soon fall to me. They’re all newer cities which would be a doddle to take but I am not sure that I even need to worry about this threat anymore. I think that I have defended against this threat. Hungary will protect me from this victory. I just need to keep a careful eye on it. I ought to pillage his remaining holy sites before any peace.  Austalia is 16/20 on the diplomatic front but I’m not too worried about that – Teddy will win the climate accords I think (he’s 60 to Australia’s 49) and I still have time to act if I needed to. Even if he regains 18/20 I think that he will be votes down before he can take the win. Culture just isn’t a problem: Australia has 146/604 tourism so is a country mile off. Unfortunately so am I – I can’t see how a tourism victory is possible now. On the military victory front I just need to take Hungary and Austalia’s capitals. I already have the rest.  Porto will fall in a few turns and I probably don’t need to take any more cities than that. I can pillage a bit then peace Joao out, extorting him for all I can get. There may be something for taking Ponta Delgada, which has both oil and uranium. I suspect that Joao will cede me Lisbon and Porto, give me his oil and a load of gold to peace me out. That has to be the plan – I can’t deal with all three major AIs at once. I only need to take out Hungary insofar as I get oil and am able to take and hold his capital. After that I can peace him out. The land around Buda is ripe for pillaging, I can take out his spaceports and get some oil and I fear that Australia will be very difficult indeed to take out. He has GDRs (almost certainly level 4 by now) and his cities are well defended. Hungary is a distraction from the true enemy, Australia, but I’m going to have to take the capital at least. Hungary has four spaceports: At Debrecen, Buda, Pest and Szekesfehervar. I can take or pillage all of them easily, which will slow him down. He’s not so far ahead of me that I couldn’t beat him in a straight space race if I peace everyone out now. Australia is the issue – I can’t even see his spaceports. The southern part of Hungary’s empire isn’t terribly important for victory (apart perhaps from the spaceport at Debrecen which a sub can see to), although there is a lot of oil in those waters, if I can spare the time to take it:  The Northern part of Hungary’s empire will probably require me to take all three cities for loyalty given the size of the cities and their distance from mine. There is only one oil on the island, sadly, and it’s under a wonder so I can’t develop it beyond its base 1pt:  There is more oil in his central empire, so I could pillage the Southern spaceport and take the mid and Northern parts of his empire: In terms of the Australian cities I do know about, to the West of my own empire, none have spaceports and all three would be easy to take out with a navy:  The big unknown remains Australia’s mainland but if I take all of the world’s other capitals and then beeline for Canberra (which I know is very close to pin in the screenshot at the top of this post) then that’s the game won. His capital isn’t coastal but is probably in range of my +3 missile cruisers. The city states situation is fine. I have three envoys I can use to maintain my hold on the two military city states (for 15% increased production across my empire). I’m tempted to put the three into Valletta to get the +3 production in my military academies (Episode IV, Lisbon and Misery City all have them, I have no other encampments) but on balance I think that it’s better to keep them to hand in case someone challenges me for control of the other two.  My army is in ok shape, all things considered, but I don’t have any way of taking out GDRs, especially in packs:  I will soon have the Venetian Arsenal in my possession and can churn out a large navy. The issue is the oil to run it: 
Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Sep 4, 2023 |
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Sep 4, 2023 19:59
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How far are you from being able to actually launch nuclear strikes, assuming that was a priority for making GBS threads up spaceports/etc? edit: ...also how do you feel about time travel shenanigans like declaring war and scouting for relevant targets, then loading an earlier save and tossing nukes into the fog of war using information from an alternate future to cripple key cities? silentsnack fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Sep 4, 2023 |
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Sep 4, 2023 21:31
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The Manhattan Project will take12t in Misery City or 16t in Episode IV (which is 1,000 production). It's easily doable and you're right that I should get to it sooner rather than later... I would then need to build the nuke(s) too. I could launch it from Boston, or a sub, or a plane out of Boston. A nuke is absolutely a possibility to take out the last capital (presumably Canberra). If I can do it without then so much the better but it's a solid plan. I should also easily be able to produce it before Australia gets to Alpha Centauri (or wherever they're actually headed in Civ 6). Speaking of planes, I would usually have got some aerodromes up by now (I usually start with a couple of biplanes and go to town once bombers arrive). A couple of carriers with bombers would make this part of the conquest far easier. I might look into that. I've added a link if anyone wants to download the game file and look around, or play it out themselves: Here
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Sep 4, 2023 23:52
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 T310: I start aerodromes in Episode IV, Vampina and Incensed (the latter after it finishes a destroyer armada). Bombers are the best units behind GDRs with particle cannons for taking down cities. Aircraft are also great at taking out GDRs before they have the arial defence upgrade. City of Dreams starts the Manhattan Project. It’s 20t so I will move any traders I have into the city to help production out. I should be able to bring that down to a more reasonable 15t. Buda needs to have fallen by then. It’s time for a final push. I switch out of boat production everywhere I’m only 1t away so that I can complete them after I take Porto. My Line Infantry Army braves the water to go explore Australia’s territory. At least I will be able to see if any of his spaceports are producing projects to speed his victory (happily the AI isn’t always very good at doing that). I don’t really care about the climate accords unless it looks like Australia might win – at present Teddy is 82 to his 67 (I’m the only other one competing at 0). I can decommission plenty of power plants if necessary (I also now have the ability to replace them with green energy so I won’t need to rebuild). 25t remain so this is very much a secondary issue. I had started the decommissioning process in a number of cities but I stop that in favour of unit production (et al.). 4t left on the Los Angeles military emergency. It would be nice to take Porto before then as I don’t think that there can be parallel military emergencies and I’d rather take Australia on at a time of my choosing. T311: I teleport Countess P L’arge from the vampire castle near Washington to the vampire castle at Biruta so that I can take her on a pillaging spree near Buda. I still have another castle I can drop somewhere – I had been saving it for somewhere with better tiles but perhaps I should use it tactically somewhere near Buda to save my vampire a long journey if they’re ‘killed’. I switch some tiles between cities to give City of Dreams more production. I also start buying military engineers to complete the flood barriers in my island cities and at Mainz – they’re hardly critical but engineers are only 170g a pop given my city state reductions and I only need two to complete the barriers, so it makes sense. I should probably have placed more emphasis on doing this earlier – I could have saved my precious chocolate. The bombardment of Buda begins in earnest. At 121 defence and 400 for the walls it will take some time to chip it away but as long as my boats aren’t bothered too much it will happen. (I still don’t have the oil and to upgrade the boats). T312: Three battleship armadas and a sole missile cruiser have taken two turns to get the walls at Buda down to 343/400. It will pick up in speed as the walls drop (and the fortification health will drop as I pillage districts, which will further help matters). Porto is 118/400. A civic finishes and I switch out Force Modernisation for Five-Year Plan. I should have done this before really – I’m not upgrading because I don’t have the oil to do so... Victory wise, Australia has converted another city for five and Hungary is holding at seven cities. Australia is still 1 light year per turn. I might still do this.  T313: My Line Infantry army finally finds an Australian spaceport, albeit one under construction. Not sure what Perth is thinking of there. Unfortunately his path is blocked off so he heads out West into the unknown. It’s ridiculous that it’s T313 and I still have 1/3 of the map undiscovered! T314: Porto’s walls are 49/400, Buda’s are 298/400. Both cities will fall soon. Australia is still 1 light year/turn. No one will buy my stuff still, which is very sad indeed as cash would be wonderful right now.  T315: The walls at Porto are down to 4 and will fall next turn. I win both the military emergency and aid request. The rewards aren’t terribly important. I could probably peace out both Hungary and Portugal now but it seems antithetical to my total way approach and once my new navy comes online I won’t have to worry to much about anyone but Australia, who doesn’t have a huge army anyway. Bloody Good Chap is ‘killed’ scouting out near Leiria and returns to the castle by Washington.  T316: Porto doesn’t quite fall, sadly. Next turn... Then I can get my new navy up and running. Bloody Good Chap steals a builder and I continue working on Buda’s walls (239/400) although a nuclear sub armada has just spawned in the city, which isn’t ideal. My two vampires – Baron Pilfalot and Countess P L’arge are slowly taking out the districts. If I had got here 50 turns ago I would probably have left the districts and IZ so that I have a workable city sooner. But then pillaging is nice. Flood barriers are slowly coming online in my island cities (I’m switching into barrier production, using an engineer charge, then switching back out so that they can work on other projects). Teddy is still winning the climate accords with 237 to Australia’s 183. There is no way that he can win that – Teddy’s total lack of industry and so CO2 emissions makes it unwinnable for others.  T317: Stealth tech finishes, Porto falls and I switch all of my cities back to naval production to finish up their boats. A storm which took out the corn near Washington makes me realise the I can drop a national park there, despite not one single tile being within Washington’s ring! Navy time, baby! This is going to be a lot of firepower at long last!  T318: My new navy launches. There are shortages of champagne through the empire! I have a battleship and a destroyer fleet around Lisbon, a submarine fleet and two missile cruiser armadas by Biruta and another fleet of missile cruisers by Dessert Desert and by Northern Bliss (which will meet up with the solo one by Buda), with two more sub armadas coming in 2t, two destroyer armadas in 4t and two more solo missile cruisers in 2t and again in 5t (which I will use to make the fleets into armadas). Lastly two submarine armadas built in Episode IV emerge through the canal city at Misery City – you will notice that I had, by this point in the game realised that Misery City’s one useful function was as a canal city and I could have got my Biremes out into the ocean that way right at the start of this ordeal! What an idiotic thing not to notice – I could have discovered the entire map ages ago and would not have had this whole space race issue..!  I drop a nation park by Washington. It doesn’t affect the vampire castle, sadly. My having taken Porto causes Evora to flip (rebellion on 12t). It has the forbidden city, so I’m tempted just to take it now anyway. T319: My taking of Porto triggers another military emergency. I vote it down with all the votes I have (6, despite my massively negative diplo as I’ve just won two competitions and been rewarded with diplo points I couldn’t sell off to anyone). The motion passes... I hear the inevitable sound of war and I’m now at war with the world (well except for Teddy, poor dear). Portugal will give me peace despite voting up the emergency; I still refuse! With my shield or on it! Carl Sagan arrives. I put him to sleep. I don’t imagine that I’m going to be trying for a science victory. Technically it would be possible – the exoplanet expedition pauses if all of their spaceports are pillaged. I just don’t see that as a viable option. I upgrade my tank army to a modern armour and move it toward Boston. It should stand up to a bit of damage, even from a GDR. I get a governor promotion and use it to promote Victor with Embrasure for double shots (he’s already placed in Boston). I expect some GDRs will come knocking soon... My newly created navy starts working its way toward Boston as well and my ground troops also move over (using the extensive railway network I’ve been building throughout my empire). Not much is good against a GDR save for another GDR (and mine is level 1 and badly damaged at present). If they’re level 4 (and I’m sure they are by now as Australia’s tech is 721 with 77 techs researched) then planes are no use – tanks and missile cruisers will help if I can bring enough to bare.  T320: No sign of these GDRs I have been fearing! An Australian destroyer armada arrives at Boston and dies to two city shots and my own destroyer fleet. My GDR retreats and takes a shot at Mohenjo-Daro before Bloody Good Chap takes the city. I will take Taruga now as well – why not!?! Otherwise they’re just in the way of my troop movements. My Line infantry army who has been scouting Australia’s territory lands near Brisbane. He will die but should be able to take out the spaceport there first. He pillages the neighbourhood for gold. I hope that he has enough movement to move and pillage next turn! The sub fleet at Buda steps out and hits my battleship armada (which happily has a promotion to heal). Five pillages of campuses completes Guidance Systems and gets me most of Robotics.  T321: Two level 4 GDRs arrive on my shores – the aptly named Infernal Machine and Land Titan. I hit Infernal Machine with two city shots (111 strength), two machine gun shots and two missile cruiser armada shots. He hits about 50% health. This might actually be survivable! My Line infantry army moves onto the spaceport at Brisbane but apparently 3.5 movement is not enough for him to pillage.  T322: Between turns three Australian subs pop up near Lisbon and kill a bombard army I had purchased a few turns ago (in the hope of turning it into a rocket artillery soon). City shots, my damaged Missile Cruiser fleet and the GDR finish off two of them. An artillery shot and two machine gun shots also take down Infernal Machine. Just Land Titan to go! Bloody Good Chap takes a swipe at Taruga and knocks the city down quite a bit. My destroyer fleet scouting Australia near Canberra discovers the city location – it’s only one tile in from the coast so should be reasonably easy to take. Two Missile Cruiser armadas start to tickle ‘Land Titan’, although they cause very little damage. I am reassured that a third GDR hasn’t yet appeared. Australia’s military strength is now 572 to my 2,366. In fact, my military is double everyone else’s combined. I think that this might be in the bag now. Buda’s walls are down to 91. I’ve pillaged the spaceport (why not – the immediate science is the most useful at the moment) and move to pillage the IZ. It will fall next turn. Between turns a Hungarian helicopter army kills my military engineer by Incensed, which is annoying but I have 14 turns until 2m tiles are submerged and most of my cities now have seawall where I give even the slightest drat about the tiles (pun intended).  T323: I purchase a hanger in Episode IV for 1,290. The Airport is 1,630 and bombers are 2,380. That does seem a bit cheeky when a GDR is only 5,200. Looking at the costs, I can get a GDR in Misery City for 1,500! Happy days! I’m not entirely sure why they’re so cheap here: My 30% production to units in the city, Ngazargamu 20% gold purchase reduction bonus and my points in three military city states probably help but this still seems very cheap. Sadly I can’t actually afford it yet. I need to make sure that I have enough gold to keep my -46.7g economy afloat. Pillage ahoy! No one will peace me out and I like it this way. Buda falls under the heels of Countess P L’arge. It will rebel in 4 turns. Baron Pilfalot takes the opportunity to repair the solar farm (which I will then be able to re-pillage for gold when it flips). One capital to go! City of Dreams finishes the Manhattan Project and starts a 10t nuke. Buda gave me the Potato Palace and Alhambra, which enables me to change my cards and bring my economy into a positive +155. I’m now 223/223 one era score and only need 237 to secure a golden age again, not that it will have much impact on the game now.   T324: GDR ‘Death Golem’ appears out of the fog between turns. Great name. I rename my own GDR ‘Whipping Boy’. Four machine gun shots, one artillery, two sub armadas, two MC armadas and 2 MC all shoot at Land Titan and take him out in one turn. Great stuff! See – all it takes to take out a GDR is a massive navy and army! I head toward Venture Politics, which seems like the best choice. It will take 3t (without pillages). My repairs (post-seawall) to the diplo quarter finish in Teenage Ninja. I drop the government plaza for shits and giggles. I really should have done this some time ago... That was another serious misplay on my part. I initially couldn’t spare the resources despite how important this district is. More recently I simply forgot – I don’t think I’ve ever had a game get past T100 without my at least starting my diplo quarter somewhere! Think how useful the warlords throne would have been for the added production, or the Ancestral Hall for settling all of those island cities! The intelligence agency and war department would also have been amazing. T325: Australia’s GDR retreats somewhere. He presumably saw what happened to his pal, Land Titan, and ran away. Fair enough GDR, fair enough. Purchasing my own GDR in Misery City is now 2,400. I have no idea why. I don’t quite have the money by 75g and there is no way to get it.  T326: Buda flips independent. That removes my cards and sends my economy negative again (-198). I purchase a GDR in Misery City for 2,400 and name him ‘Mr Plinky’. Another Australian GDR, ‘Monstrous Beast’, is sighted just south of Canberra. I’m not sure where Death Golem has got to but that means that Australia has two GDRs. T327: Australia’s other GDR runs away between turns. I’m not entirely sure what is going on there. A GDR will now cost my 6,000 to purchase becuase I’ve lost Ngazargamu (20% gold purchase reduction for units plus 15% across my entire empire and 30% in Misery City for having two city states). It’s a minor annoyance. I spend the money on a Jet Bomber instead. Nukes will finish in City of Dreams 5t, Baltimore 11t and Episode IV 16t. I move my navy up toward Canberra to start on the walls. T328: Between turns Teddy denounces me, and a GDR and city shot from Canberra kill a nuclear sub. No biggie. Australia is still only travelling 1 light year/turn and I have this in hand.  T329: I bombard Buda but don’t quite retake it. Australia obviously doesn’t like my approaching his capital and three GDRs hove into view. I would retreat but I hear good things from City of Dreams. My jet bomber which I’ve moved to Boston also attacks Canberra to scout the route out for a future... mission... (Attacking the GDR with it would reduce its health to almost nil for negligible benefit) T330: I get a further three envoys and use them to retake Ngazargamu, which reduces the cost of GDRs to 2,400 again in the capital. I purchase one immediately and name him ‘Late To The Party’ – for good reason as my first nuke will complete next turn. I retake Buda in anticipation...
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Sep 5, 2023 22:07
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 T331: One little nuke is all it took. I should have just invented them in the middle ages! My GDR, Mr Plinky, waltzes into Canberra and victory is mine! Muhahaha! The world bows before Misery City and its empire. Could there have been a better start?  My score of 1,662 isn’t half bad considering how gruelling this game has been. I have made a few mistakes here and there (including a couple of absolute whoppers!) but it’s been fun overall. More of a grind than I would have liked but I simply couldn’t catch a break. If I had more oil in my largely tundra empire I might have got there rather quicker. Or niter! Coal and uranium have been my only saving graces (and even there I didn’t have that much coal). My Culture was basically flat for 160 turns, which is appalling:  Science output is a similar story:  Usually I would expect to be behind the AI in culture and science until about T150 and then I would expect a huge ramp up and to overtake the leader by T180-200. My science only started to rise at T200 and I wasn’t remotely competitive with anyone but Teddy until T300 (by which time Australia was just about to launch his exoplanet expedition). Units killed is, not unsurprisingly, a rather different story:  Units lost – a few careless losses during the game but overall a competent attempt:  
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Sep 5, 2023 22:19
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If anyone has any questions about Civ or his game, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, thanks for reading! I enjoyed doing it.
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Sep 5, 2023 22:21
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I stopped playing the new civs after 5's deal, so it's pretty interesting to see how it went, not my cup of tea but nice to see someone bend it into a pretzel.
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Sep 5, 2023 22:37
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SIGSEGV posted:I stopped playing the new civs after 5's deal, so it's pretty interesting to see how it went, not my cup of tea but nice to see someone bend it into a pretzel. You should give it a go. I too had a bit of a difficult transition at Civ 5 (which is my least played of the series by far) but Civ 6 is now extremely polished. It will also prepare you for Civ 7, which is schedule to drop next year at some point.
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Sep 5, 2023 23:03
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I was wondering how I made the mistake about not being able to get my Biremes out. That, including my general failure to scout the map and to build the government plaza were, I though, the three bad errors in this game. Looking back at some of the earlier screenshots - e.g. T257 above - it turns out that I couldn't get the Biremes out until global warming melted the ice caps around Misery City. I've never noticed that the game does this before! You live and learn! [edit]Although it would have been nice to have found to flipping oil under all that ice. Legendary start my arse. I wonder what happened with the script to put me in that starting location? Bouchehog fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Sep 5, 2023 |
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Sep 5, 2023 23:06
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I can’t imagine a better capstone for this story than vampires conquering a city and quickly repairing its solar farm so that they can pillage it again when the city rebels. Bravo, that was a thoroughly terrifying dissection of this game.
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Sep 6, 2023 01:25
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Man, if all else fails, bathe the world in uranium-powered hellfire. Hell of a game, thanks for sharing it with us! It's great to see a run where things were actually challenging all the way up to the end.
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Sep 6, 2023 04:35
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Fantastic. Well played!
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Sep 7, 2023 02:18
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What an impressive turnaround, I know I would have given up around turn 50 under the same circumstances. I play Deity when I Civ but it can be so gruelling when you're stuck with an unlucky start. You really pulled out a good victory, and the nuke win is icing on the cake. Will there be more impossible campaigns?
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Sep 7, 2023 03:51
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