After the relative breeze on emperor playing the Dutch, would it be possible to survive and win this game on demigod.
Demigod is quite a different beast when it comes to AW games. If I could survive long enough to build up enough military before meeting too many enemies, this might be possible.
I rolled quite a few starts. It is clear that without a food rich environment one will not survive since the city limit will be hit very fast.

Once I had a good start with ivory as a lux, I was set to go and expanded as quickly as possible until meeting the first foe, that is relatively nearby, the Vikings

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6646/dg01ag4.jpg


At this moment, I have a mere 5 cities. But I have my UU and that will mean slaves. I am also trying to get SoZ with a started palace prebuild...

Trying my luck with a warrior, I attack the city the Vikings just settled and got it razed. Hoepfully that will curb their expansion a little. In fact I can keep up with theri progress in terms of cities, which will be crucial.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8056/dg02rl6.jpg

Not long after that, I enter the early Golden age due to JT's. I rather have an early GA and get a lot of slaves, than purposely delay that. It will also spur expansion until the city limit is hit.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9436/dg03ie4.jpg

I get bad news during all that expansion however. The Americans finish SoZ 6 turns before I do :mad: Swap my prebuild back to a palace and try and time it to get the GL, which surely will be crucial now for my success.

An overview of the empire in the midst of the Golden Age. I have 10 cities while the Vikings have a hard time keeping up.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9952/dg04ee7.jpg

Soon after that however, I hit the city limit at 13 cities, while Vikings end up with 12. If I can manage to take them out, I would have 25 cities, nice for a chance to survive. The other good part is the fact that the Vikings only show up with archers and spears, they don't have iron apparently.

Not a bad expansion phase. 16 cities is average for 31 civs with the 511 limit, so 13 on Demigod is quite decent. The Vikings look like a good early foe for you with their lack of Iron. Do you plan to keep using Javelin Throwers to gets lots of slaves or switch to Swordsmen for their attack?

Also, could you remove the URL tags around the IMG tags in your post? The images are quite small now and it would be easier to read if they were larger.

Early fighting is easier due to the fact that only spears and archers show up. Combine JT's with catapults and nice leader/slave possibilities are open.

Not long after the real fighting starts, a first JT army is born

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5610/dg05mq8.jpg

Here is a picture of the early fighting of Viking stacks

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4660/dg06gf5.jpg

Using my first JT army, I manage to capture Hareid, which I keep as a magnet for the AI to attack

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5782/dg07wh2.jpg

With Hareid secured, the army then moves on to Stockholm to further hurt Vikings.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/5694/dg08gj8.jpg


Early expansion seems promising. Vikings have been contained so far. But I will need iron for further expansion and the land doesn't look good for that. There is a distinct lack of hills and mountains in my lush land.

I agree with Quintillius. Doesn't imageshack let you paste the full-size image?

I'll be watching this story, too.

If someone can tell me how to get the images up without the thumbnail link, that would be great...too stupid myself :(

Anyway, let's continue the story...

Golden Age got us nice expansion and a real shot at the Great Library after missing out a vital SoZ (I could have really used those ACav's). By the way, there are 3 luxes nearby and that can only mean that our continent must be pretty big. With so many resources connected early on, the capital can quickly grow to size 12. During the GA it churns out a JT every second turn.

The JT army moves on to Stockholm and takes it easily (fighting spears is no real issue). I redlined the army but archer won't attack even the 4hp army. They simply ignore it...

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6671/dg09nk5.jpg

Things get even better while taking out more archers and spears and another army is born

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5486/dg10pp3.jpg

More vital, I get the GLib (and I was really MM a lot to get the GL in time). It was exactly at 1 turn to the palace when literature came in, then the switch to GL took another 11 turns.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8646/dg11ov6.jpg

While waiting for the GL, I researched the wheel and CB at 4 turns each. I have 2 horses connected, so at least we have them for knights and cavalry. The GL did not give me anything yet as I only met Vikings and no other nation.

In the meantime, I took out the next city tilting the balance even more in my favour at 16-9 cities.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8039/dg12xh4.jpg

Then I saw a unit rush by in the IT, clearly a new Civ. It took another few turns before the scout came into view for contact and Portugal is met. In the meantime I got IW and no iron anywhere in sight :cry: This can pose a real problem. How am I supposed to fight without swords/pikes and maces? JT's won't really cut it :eek:

Meeting Portugal shows several things:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4531/dg13hf9.jpg

First, they actually have iron, but with a scout, they might be far away. Second, they also have another 4th lux, this means the continent might be huge. Third, they do have 14 cities and might not be so overpowering. In fact so far none of their units has shown up.

So, we have currently 2 enemies with 9 and 14 cities, Vikings resourceless and Portugal has iron and horses.

Two armies allows me to attack with more ease as I can cover one army while the other attacks. This way I am able to take the Viking capital.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6158/dg14jl3.jpg

While taking out more of their archer/spear combos, I get a third MGL. Three armies will mean the pentagon is available (the HE is already hand built). This might be huge in this game as I have no iron and might be forced to attack pikes with JT armies, I am even thinking of LB armies on the way to a more plausible saltpeter.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7026/dg15qd8.jpg

While moving out and founding new cities, I spot 2 new borders. An orange border in the west (which I leave alone as I don't need a 2 front war). The other border is sandcolor and turns out to be the Ottomans.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6584/dg16tf8.jpg

Now, these guys have iron as well (which seems to be much closer than Portugal). This might be a chance in the future to acquire that metal. They have 17 cities compared to my 20 at this moment. Meeting them catapults me into the MA (giving me feudalism and monarchy).

I decide to revolt seeing no better time than now with the Ottoman initial onslaught a few turns away. I draw a mere 4 turns (remember I set the OCN very high). I can see Ottomans starting to move their units towards our land, they have pikes and maces against my JT/cat combos. This will be quite a fight I reckon.

I manage to take out a Ottman city however, with 2 armies attacking pikes is feasible if slightly risky. But attacking on flat ground in cities should be fine with healthy armies.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7540/dg17nz6.jpg

I switch government after a pleasant anarchy period (3 luxes help a lot)

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7652/dg18qc2.jpg

My treasury is at 2000gold with 60gpt added every turn. I hope this will get me gunpowder before making my way to cavalry. I hope the desert around Viking/Ottoman land has some salt around.

For now, I got no choice but to try and locate the Ottman iron and pillage it to get lighter attacks. This way i will hopefully eventually attack spears in cities. 2 armies are moving east locating hills already. Once I have taken out the iron, I can resume trying to take out cities.

At the moment I have 22 cities, Vikings 4 and Ottomans 16.

When you upload a pic to imageshack, copy the link on the page that shows for "Forums 2." If you aren't on that page, find the picture you want the link for under "My Images", click the I button next to it, and select the code in the BIG box, under full size, instead of the lower one, which is under thumbnail.

When you upload a pic to imageshack, copy the link on the page that shows for "Forums 2." If you aren't on that page, find the picture you want the link for under "My Images", click the I button next to it, and select the code in the BIG box, under full size, instead of the lower one, which is under thumbnail.that did the trick :goodjob: I agree it's much nicer to lurk and read

Spamming to subscribe. Good luck, ThERat!

Subscribing also. This should be an interesting game. I'm enjoying it already. :)

No iron - that makes it even more difficult! Good luck surviving the inevitable barrage this two-front war brings. The Vikings look dangerous in that last screenshot even with four cities, and I'm sure the Ottomans are a danger.

Just wondering, can you get slaves from a Javelin Thrower Army winning?

Short recall before moving on:

I have NO iron, but horses, I got 3 armies and 22 cities. 3 foes at the moment all located in the east.

Start the next session with a success taking out another desert town on flat from Ottomans. With fully healed JT armies, it is possible to attack.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1700/dg19ej1.jpg

Not much later I move on to the east along the mountain/hill expanse and spot the Ottoman iron source :dance: In the picture below, I inserted the mini map to roughly see how far this is from my core. It will take a while until this source of iron will be mine.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8494/dg20by0.jpg

I pillage the iron and just to make sure, dial up Ottomans. Yes, this is their only source of iron so far. I can't afford to attack Edrine though, because it is on a hill. 3 JT armies against pikes on hills do not sound promising.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9136/dg21xv6.jpg


Back at the homefront, fighting the many units Vikings throw at me, pays off. I get a 4th army. And yes, JT armies will enslave units as well. This pays really off as I have plenty of slaves at the moment.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5240/dg22na6.jpg


It doesn't take too long and the Ottmans have reached my borders with their initial stacks. I had expected them and prepared plenty of defenders (one good thing is that spears and JT's are relatively cheap and can be replaced quickly. Ottomans decide to come from 2 directions and I have to strategically place my catapults and units to be able to react to the threat.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1373/dg23js9.jpg

In the Ottoman land I spot the next city on flat land and taking the right moment and patience, raze the city after taking out 2 pikes and 2 spears (pillaging the iron has paid off already)

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9282/dg24gc2.jpg


I also manage to take Oslo and by this time, Vikings are down to 2 cities already while I have 26 cities at this moment. It is still surprising how many units Vikings can field. Thye must be able to churn out a unit per town each turn.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/231/dg25sy5.jpg

At home, things are starting to really heat up and I am happy to have avoided an 2 front war so far (by the way the landto my south is ocean, thus I am safe from there). Below you see the stacks approaching. I do my best with catapults to ping the pikes and soften the stacks. It takes all good timing and precision as my attackers are quite weak. I can't afford heavy losses at all. Playing defensive and taking on small stacks is the way to go.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7428/dg26yz3.jpg

One turn I have to deal with a stack from the east, the next from the north where quite a few troops pour in. I ping the pikes and some maces, but inevitably a few will attack. My fortified JT's behind walls aren't doing a bad job and the kill ratio stays very high.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1313/dg27mv8.jpg

In between all the fighting I get this message which is a boon. It will cause more experienced Ottoman units in the short term, but the city will ultimately by mine in the long run and save a lot of support cost

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7211/dg28sx5.jpg

The heavy figthing continues and is bound to give me more MGL's. The next MGL comes in...

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5369/dg29kf9.jpg

and turns into this building

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3429/dg30bc6.jpg

4 unit armies might have a much higher chance of survival. These JT armies will be useful throughout the game as they will continue to generate slaves. I estimate that I currently have around 60-70 slaves.

Fighting continues and gives me a 5th and 6th army. The attention shifts a little to the east as the initial wave from the north subsides.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9145/dg31su4.jpg


Here is an overview of the front. Ottoman units mixed with few Viking units and the new threat, Portugese stacks as well. This makes fighting a little tough as there are still many forests. In the meantime I am able to found a city out of the blue as the AI's are fighting somewhere else.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3420/dg32fi2.jpg

I take Bergen, Vikings second last city and keep it for the time being as a connection. I also use this opportunity to send 4 unit armies to the front and bring back those 3 JT armies.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2190/dg33qi4.jpg


Last picture shows an overview over the front. In the far northeastern corner is Edrine with the iron I need so badly.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/305/dg34kw1.jpg

I have acquired engineering from the Great Library. Portugal has invention and monotheism. If Ottomans get monotheism I will have to venture to the west to meet the orange Civ to maximise my Great Library. I do not want to get stuck with the slow progress of the Ottomans. I hope that I will get quite a few techs from the GL and hopefully gain gunpowder from it. I will simply have to have saltpeter in the vast desert to the northeast.

Some stats:
29 cities and more than 4000gold for deficit research in future
Vikings 1 city
Ottomans 13 cities
Portugal 14 cities

I cannot express how great your stories are, ThERat. :worship:

first off, thanks for all the encouraging comments :)

I played a few turns tonight ans will not be able to play until Sunday as I am going for a retreat. The little bit I played was shocking though and I might not survive...

What happened? :eek:

First I spot Portuguese knights, I haven't seen any move 2 units so far. Anyway that was expected so no big deal...
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4306/dg35kl7.jpg

But then after the next IT, it comes big...I have contact with 2 new Civs that are advanced. I smell something fishy

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4812/dg36hb4.jpg
These guys here have 21 cities

Now I know what is going on, the AI knows PP and has sold contacts and thus I get to know America as well. These guys have SoZ and KT, this will mean plenty of awful enemy units...
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9682/dg37wz6.jpg

In addition they have plenty of more contacts. If I meet them all in a few turns, I am doomed by the initial attacks that I will simply not able to absorb.

The next IT gives me this contact
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6315/dg38rw4.jpg

The only positive news is that I acquire techs up to

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3469/dg39ah4.jpg

I start research and manage to get metal to 13 turns at a large deficit. I badly need cavalry and that needs gunpowder. In the desert there are 2 source and one is outside of Ottoman borders since I took another town there. If I can manage to found a colony to start on cavs, I might have a chance.

For now, it is building spears and LB's. In fact I got another army, which will be formed into a LB army for some better attacks.

So still no iron? :suicide:

:gulp:

Hopefully the RNG will be extra-super-nice and have an AI run out of iron and have it relocate within your borders.

On the plus side, America only has 7 cities. And maybe, just maybe, America and the Aztecs are on another continent? You did say that they had printing press.

On the plus side, America only has 7 cities. And maybe, just maybe, America and the Aztecs are on another continent? You did say that they had printing press.Well, America has 21 cities and is definitely on our continent as they build th SoZ...

The others also seem all on our Island as nobody had navigation yet when I got those contacts...

despite all the odds against me, decided to continue. Even if I go down in flames...

In 480AD managed to take the last Viking city. I have one enemy less now

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/279/dg40pw4.jpg

Unfortunately after that we get even more contacts...

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2337/dg41is8.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1073/dg42xv2.jpg

I wonder how many more contacts I will get before being destroyed.
At the same time I am still trying to expand and defeat the Ottoman. Metallurgy is soon in and I badly need cavalry. Maybe I can survive.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3610/dg43vo5.jpg


Another contact :cry:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5882/dg44pq1.jpg


Via creative roading I manage to connect the saltpeter in 530AD and switch a lot of builds to muskets. Better defenders are really good for me with unit cost starting to mount.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3897/dg45la3.jpg


The Civs that I face are now:
Aztecs: 21 cities
Korea: unknown number at the moment
Carthage: 21 cities
Portugal: 14 cities
Ottomans: 10 cities
Babylon: 22 cities
Byzantines: 15 cities
America: 20 cities

The stream of new Civs I get contact with, doesn't stop over the next few rounds.

Especially bad is the fact that I meet the orange Civ, the Dutch. A two front war is now inevitable.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4453/dg47ci9.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/6835/dg49id0.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4889/dg50qb8.jpg

At the same time I continue to raze Ottoman cities and expand my own empire.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4741/dg46gy0.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8248/dg48ob9.jpg

I manage to clear the iron city of Edrine. The 4 units JT army is not a bad tool and the JT/LB army combination works wonders, but is a little slow. I have an extra army unfilled waiting for cavalry to be filled to be able to do some real damage.
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/7379/dg53im2.jpg


After a while the Americans finally reach my borders in numbers. These are the first few stacks of their fast movers.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7633/dg51wb3.jpg

The muskets I gained come in handy now. The picture below shows another impression of the front. The combination of artillery and LB's can still defeat quite a few units. Keeping Ottoman towns for 2 turns also helps to confuse the enemy and I am not yet getting overrun.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/650/dg52nl5.jpg

In 640AD I finally get MT and swap a lot of builds to cavs. For now iron is secondary as I only need it for railroads later on.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4232/dg54kh1.jpg

Omg... those are a lots of units o.o Good luck :)

Wow. That is a ton of enemies. Is the plan just try to keep the borders while the armies take out the Ottomans? It looks like you're in for a long, bloody fight on your eastern borders.

Is the plan just try to keep the borders while the armies take out the Ottomans?The plan is to secure the iron and saltpeter within my borders. Having colonies is a little unsafe though my JT army on the salt has yet to be attacked.
I plan to take the Ottoman capital with Sun Tzu, as this will make life much easier and save some cash.
Of course, overwhelming enemy numbers could nullify this plan.

With Military Tradition in, I hope the Cavalry will tilt the balance in my favor, especially knowing how many Civ will come at us with their initial stacks.

I can only hope they come in phases, maybe then I won't get overwhelmed.
Ottomans have only a few cities left and should be easily taken out.

My attention has to be diverted to the north from now as well as their is a big stack of Korean knights appearing. I shift a Cav army there to help out

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4476/dg58dv3.jpg

Fighting them yields yet another army (my second cav army)

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1635/dg59ta3.jpg
The army helps to stabilize the situation there

In the meantime, the Celts (I spotted their border next to the Ottoman borders before) step up and we got another enemy.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8645/dg60vu5.jpg

Later on the Egyptians appear and we have a total of 14 enemies at the moment :eek: How I can deal with that many enemies and only 38 cities myself is left to be seen.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/877/dg63ws8.jpg

Nevertheless, I continue to take out Ottoman cities
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9317/dg61im6.jpg

I even take their capital, but need to evacuate it and let the Celts take it due to overwhelming numbers.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/6357/dg64av4.jpg

The western border has become a hot zone as well with the Dutch flooding in with force

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/6844/dg62xb4.jpg


Let's see whether I can handle all that without losing...

I even take their capital, but need to evacuate it and let the Celts take it due to overwhelming numbers.
I want to be I understand what you meant. It sounds like you let the Celts take Istanbul with Sun Tzu's, rather than abandoning the city. This would be so you can retake it from them eventually? or did I misunderstand?

Wow!!! These next turns sound like they're going to be rough. Good luck!

I want to be I understand what you meant. It sounds like you let the Celts take Istanbul with Sun Tzu's, rather than abandoning the city. This would be so you can retake it from them eventually?That's exactly what I am planning to do.

And the second statement, that the game seems brutal, is also true.... I am still hanging in there though. But I could go down any time.

Continued by getting a MGL. In fact (for whatever reason) I always seem to get a MGL when I just formed a new army and am waiting for one. I reached the army limit long time ago and wait for 4 extra cities all the time.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/743/dg65ig9.jpg

Another city for our army limit and higher unit support
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9363/dg66sn9.jpg

I build another cav army and get a MGL fighting the many Dutch minnows in the west. Their numbers are strong, but the units are weak and I can eventually handle them.
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4560/dg67mo6.jpg

For added excitement another Civ via PP.
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9001/dg68qy0.jpg


Below is an overview of the expanse in the west. I sent 2 armies out to start razing more cities as we need to expand to survive at all.
In the north is Babylon (and Korea must be there as well as their units come from there)
Dutch are west and to me the Dutch appear weak as they lack fast units. I hope I can make some progress there.
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2449/dg69cb1.jpg

geez rat... this is out of control. How do you still have the patience to play this after just finishing a monster AWE?

It may appear as though this game is somewhat over, with all the contacts and non iron and stuff... but I think you can still do it, since cavs are just around the corner.

The situation in the east and north becomes more and more desperate however. In the north Babylon and Celts stream in and I need to scramble what I can.
In the east I need to defend the roads as they are my bloodline to saltpeter and iron (which I now connected via a colony).
There the Aztecs increasingly worry me. Americans have cavalry themselves now and create trouble as well.
Below you can see a 9 unit landing by Aztecs, which I manage to take care of.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2584/dg70tc2.jpg


Expansion needs to progress at all costs and I manage to raze the second Celt city with my LB army.
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9048/dg71zz0.jpg


As mentioned the north gets more and more crowded and I get another MGL.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6391/dg72vn9.jpg


But then the masses come and I can not assemble enough defenders to fight against this. City #40 is in serious trouble. I put in more defenders and cross my fingers...
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3664/dg73uw5.jpg

How do you still have the patience to play this after just finishing a monster AWE?believe it or not, this kind of game is a sort of relaxation for me...I can watch my soccer games and even chat with ppl while doing that...

well, crossing my fingers didn't really help

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2783/dg74rv7.jpg

Time to regroup my defenses there to avoid losing more cities. It actually works and I avoid losing more cities there for the time being.

for a change I meet more Civs...fun really to have so many enemies
At least this lady is backwards. But she knows plenty of other Civs. I have a feeling this is a Civ from another continent

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9138/dg75rh0.jpg

Vent my anger by taking this Babylon city and hope to spot the ocean in the north. I could use some narrow front.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3763/dg76ps8.jpg

Well, currently I have 44 cities and 11 armies. I know 16 nations and they seem all more or less on our continent.
I will post an overview another time and maybe a better world map (If I still live that is)

Impressive - survival still seems possible. City #40 looked doomed from the start without walls, though. I would've been inclined to just abandon it and pull the troops back to New Lagartero or Miss the Celts.

How's the expansion towards the saltpeter going? It looks like you're finally at the southern edge of the huge desert.

How's the expansion towards the saltpeter going?Well, not that great. I face a lot of units in the north and east. Thus, I have been expanding west as much as I could. The main worker force is there to road and improve tiles. The Dutch have been pushed back after taking out their initial stacks.

At the moment, I am struggling to keep the road intact that lead to my saltpeter and iron colony. I covered both with a JT army and they have been left alone so far.

The other reason for expanding west is the jungle there. I will go for steam immediately after hitting the next age for rails and I guess the highest chance for coal would be the jungle. I don't want to end up with 3rd colony. Coal is notoriously rare.

Generally I thought that the game is manageable on demigod, if only the AI would not sell contacts. dealing with too many AI units at one time is suicidal. Currently I simply lack the amount of units to kill the Aztecs advancing troops. If I can't win this game, I am thinking of replaying the game without the ability to sell contacts and maybe also without the UN. I might lose the game due to the fact that I can't take out the UN in this huge world.

Didn't even think of the U.N. - that seems so far off. But, assuming you do survive, I guess it is a realistic threat - no one's going to be voting for you!

In order to keep up with my expansion and armies, I am always getting a MGL whenever the last MGL has been converted into a new army.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1529/dg80vt4.png

After this short success, it's getting crowded again at our northern front, with plenty of Babylon units streaming in. I beat up a few and then they divert west which might spell trouble later on for me.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/7601/dg81tk9.png

In the east, a huge Aztec stack is approaching threatening our roads and basically hitting us in too many numbers to be able to defeat them all. I can only ping as much as possible and then try and get rid of them slowly without losing roads to pillaging.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4093/dg82aa8.jpg


Despite all the drowning in enemy units, my armies continue the slow razing march and 2 cities fall.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6311/dg83jv4.jpg
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/854/dg84sp5.jpg

These cities get replaced in the west where the Dutch aren't as scary as enemies anywhere else.

When I thought this could go on for a few turns and I could actually hang on until rails, more and more enemies keep pouring in 930AD.

The situation becomes very bad in when I face huge stacks on all fronts...This is the situation at the beginning of the turn. Note that those stacks have big numbers...how am I going to survive this? Maybe not at all :(

In the east, you can see many Aztec units that i couldn't clear move on to my core. At least I managed to keep the roads intact via pinging units with my artillery.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/813/dg85ke0.jpg

In the north, the Celts threaten in numbers but are actually moving westwards rather than attacking.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/951/dg86jx5.jpg

In the west my newly founded cities are under siege by Babylon and Korea, with Babs sending knights to boot. In fact the new city you see in this picture (with a cav inside) is abandoned and replaced a little to the south to avoid an unnecessary loss. But there is now no room for further evading.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6196/dg87sm3.jpg


I manage to defeat quite a few Aztecs and some Celts, but I might not be enough to save the west. I think I could fold any time right now.

Taking out another Dutch city gives me 48 cities and a 12th army, which will be sent westwards to help slowing down the inevitable defeat.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9449/dg88yl8.jpg

Man! That was a HUGE Aztec stack! Good luck.

^What Aabraxan said. Those guys are everywhere.

short update without pictures:

I played 2 turns last night. The Aztecs still pour in but I am slowly getting the upper hand. The healthy LB's will simply move further in to get eventually defeated by my units.

It is the north and west that is a problem at the moment. In the north, the Celts have big stacks. I was moving an army back and forth between north and west to prevent losses of cities. It worked but the Babylons have too many units where I have too little defenders and artillery.

I also have the problem with expansion because the Dutch show up in bigger numbers now and I can't just send settlers out easily without protection.

I hope I can hang on until I get steam, It is now another 6 turns to ToG and then another 15-20 turns to steam (I estimate)...Of course, I need coal for that as well...

Assume you gain enough strength to withstand onslaughts, will you try to win by conquest, or some other VC?

Assume you gain enough strength to withstand onslaughts, will you try to win by conquest, or some other VCDomintation is out on monster maps as you can't get enough land ever...UN is out...culture is out for sure as I lag in culture a lot already.
Leaves conquest and space...space sounds wrong to me...so conquest it is...maybe I should try and AWE monster map and go for culture. I remember those 20k AWE games being absolute nail biters...

More and more enemy units are streaming in. I have a hard time to clear what is necessary. The east is surprisingly the easiest to handle due to the many artillery I have there.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3563/dg91hy2.jpg

The desperate western edge.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3183/dg90mm9.jpg

Despite all this, I have to continue and take enemy cities and expand, else I will crumble soon.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9687/dg89hi4.jpg

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2427/dg92md9.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5884/dg93qo0.jpg

Due to these cities razed, I expand and get this message (now having 53 cities and 13 armies.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2938/dg95ts7.jpg

The pictures don't really give the proper proportion of the AI onslaught. America would come out of the fog with Cavs and attack anywhere at the front. We had been lucky to repell most of them. The Celts would attack and move into my land. Only shfiting of armies helps a little. Koreans and Babs stream in and pillage my land.

Then the next turn, the inevitable happens. I lose a town in the west and the Dutch can stream in without any resistance.
At the same time the enemy drops around 15 units at the shores and I won't have the means to defend. A huge Byzantine stack is just inches away from our borders.
Carthage knights enter the frail and in the east more gigantic Aztec stacks move in and pillage.
In the picture you can see Replacement town surviving on a single redlined Cav after the Americans came out of the fog to attack with 5 cavs...

At the bottom of the picture you can see a Carthage merc dropped where 10 more units await (and I got maybe 3 attackers there)

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6908/dg97eu4.jpg

I decide to throw in the towel and give up :(

I did not underestimate the AI, but I underestimated the power of PP. This tech comes very early on DG. One cannot handle the AI agression with so many enemies at the same time. Soon I would get more landings from overseas which I am not able to clear.

I will try again with a different Civ, PP not enabling selling of contacts and the UN victory disabled as well...

:(

It was a valiant effort. You did pretty well to get 53 cities - more than 10% of the world's total - on Demigod Always War. You made it look so easy on Emperor - of course it couldn't have been easy, but it made it look like Demigod might be possible. Ah, well, better luck next time.

It was a valiant effort.

That it was. Despite not winning, :hatsoff: Holding out this long on AWDG is nothing to sneeze at. Well done and I'll be watching for your next attempt.

The above two statements match my sentiments exactly. No need to add more.

thanks for the encouragment...I will not let this matter rest and I already started a new game last night to get over my frustration with this game...

I will start to post a new thread if the new game is looking more successful...As I mentioned, no PP contact trading and no UN.
Just a little teaser: Playing as Sumer, no iron again...met 2 Civs and am hoping to get the GL...

That PP situation was just ridiculous! I'm looking forward to your next game. :)