Wheee! This is my first story, so bear with me while I figure things out. I'm not sure how it'll go (knowing my luck, i'll get my butt kicked), but thats half the fun!

Anywho, heres the setup:

Map: Large, totally random, roaming
Civ: Scandinavia (WAAAAAAGHH!!)
Rivals: All Random
Difficulty: Monarch
Rules: Default, except Cult. Linked starts and Respawn AI
Game: PTW, totally stock (cept graphic mods)



===================



4000BC -- The Beginning

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0001.jpg

TADA! And out of thin air, I am created! Or rather, my three wee followers are created. Oi! They look like a good lot, don't they?

Now i've got a bunch of grassland, two rivers (YAY!), two mountains, and a hint of coastline one tile away. I think i'm gonna head north to grab the shore corner for my first city, since I prefer to have a coastal capital. My worker will start irrigating the land for more population, and my explorer will head south to see what he can see. Oh, and i'll get to researching bronze working.


3950BC -- Second Turn

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0002.jpg

My first city, Primus, has been built and has set to creating a second scout. It revealed some wheat just NW of it, which is cool. I should be able to put it to good use in a few turns after the first expansion. My scout, meanwhile, has found some shiny rocks in a hill to the SE. Thar be gold in them hills!


3850BC -- Daddy wants a new piano

My scout, still headed SE, has found a sizable chunk of prairie... and IVORY! A large, extravagant musical instrument would go PERFECT in my humble palace...
I also cranked my science this turn. I'm breaking even, but should have shiny yellow trinkets in 26 turns (dude... thats like, 1300 years from now!)


3750BC -- Bring out your dead!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0003.jpg

Scout found a second source of ivory beside the first and then managed to stumble on a native tribe... who taught us how to dig holes in the ground to stick dead people in. Yeah, yeah, it sounds WEIRD... but i'm sure it'll catch on in a few hundred years.
On an unrelated note, my worker has finished irrigating, and has started on a road (MONEY!)


3650BC -- Mooo?

Primus finished its scout, and started on a third. The second scout headed north... which is looking like a dead end (or a land bridge). Meanwhile, my first scout has found large green patch in the desert that is apparently, inhabited by some odd, fat, four legged animals that go "Moo." Hey, don't look at me, i'm just reading what he wrote here!


3550BC -- Climate control

Scouts to the north say its freezing cold. Scouts to the south say they're finished the desert, and nearing a hot and humid jungle.
Who built this world?!


3500BC -- Me fail English? Thats onpossibul!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0004.jpg

My southern scout stumbled upon yet another friendly native village, who gave us some maps scribbled on the backs of napkins. They revealed: Some jungle, some forest, some hills, lots of dirt... and an English border! ARGH! I hate the English. They're always so snotty and hard to deal with. Bah. Anyways, my scout is headed towards them now, since the natives maps revealed some ocean west of his position too, leading me to believe the jungle area is a dead end.
And speaking of dead ends, guess what my northern scout ran into? Oh well, maybe i'll get some oil or something out of that tundra later on (pshea right!)


3450BC -- T-10 turns to settler

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0005.jpg

Primus cranked out its third scout (should be enough), expanded it's borders (getting my wheat!), revealed some more wheat in the distance, and started on its first settler. 10 turns to pop 3, and 10 turns to settler #1. Originally it was 7 turns to pop and 15 for settler, but I pulled my second colonist off the wheat tile to the one my worker was currently irrigating.
By the way - 14 turns to bronze!


3400BC -- Mind if I call you Beth?

ACK! Bumped into the English' scout today, snooping around my territory. I said hi, and traded Warrior Code and Ceremonial Burial for Alphabet. Not the best deal, but hey, I want my alphabet soup, dammit! Plus, the English would have learned WC/CB from someone else eventually... might as well get something for it.


3350BC -- Aw crap, im behind already

Just a quick note: That english city I found to the south? Its called "York". And its got a pop of 2. Meaning I am sllloooow as hell compared to the AI. Crap crap crap! How do they do it?! Stupid cheating bastards. They'll pay for this - mark my words!


3250BC -- Eat your wheaties

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0006.jpg

Found a third goodie hut this turn, who taught us Mysticism. The natives are loco I tell you! I also found the other english border, which puts their two cities smack dab on either side of a readily-irrigatible (?) grassland just FILLED with wheat. Tonight I will spend the evening loving many beautiful women in an effort to resecure my confidence in my manhood.


3150BC -- Damn AI

Found another two sources of Ivory, but its kinda close to the English right now. Speaking of whom, I just learned have already discovered bronze working. I'm only 5 turns away from it though, so i'll save mysticism to trade for something else (I hope).


2950BC -- Movin out

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0008.jpg

Finished my settler today! Started work on a warrior, and thanks to my nearby wheat, will be back up to pop 2 in five turns. My settler will be headed down towards the ivory on the east coast.
My three scouts are still trucking around, though one of them is into some HEAVY jungle/mountain terrain. Hopefully the AI will go colonize that and leave me some nice open grassland. I wish.
Also, I was alerted recently to the most wealthiest nations on the planet:
Indian, Arab, Roman, Viking (thats me!), Ottoman, English, Mongol, and Spanish. Hey, i'm on the list!


2850BC -- Bronze!

Finished bronze working today, started on writing. One of my scouts found another goodie hut (map), which revealed some grassland, a bunch of forest, some more moo-moos, and some gold. Its much too far away to be of any use to me though.
Oh, and one of my scouts is thoroughly lost in a seriously frickin HUGE chunk of jungle with a massive river. Move over Amazon!


2670BC -- More neighbors

Found a goldish border (Ottoman?), and a light blue border (Spanish?) today. Oh, my one scout also found the end to the jungle (ocean), so he headed north. Primus created a warrior and is on to a second settler. Meanwhile my worker is creating a road (part way) to my second city location, which is still waiting for my settler to arrive at.
So... when do we get airplanes again?


2630BC to 2590BC -- Hi thar

Ah, the gold ones are indeed the Ottomans. Traded the Alphabet to them for Masonry and 10 gold (all they had). No, i'm not a very good bargainer.


2590BC -- Say Buah?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0009.jpg

Next turn, yup, the blue is the Spanish. Who suck! HAHA! I have FOUR techs over them (Masonry, Pottery, Warrior Code, Mysticism), and they have nothing to trade back. Darn. I'll have to check in with Izzy from time to time, to see if they ever get anything worth trading...
The other big news today, is I founded my second city, "Buah" (what? I like it). Unfortunately it can't produce a lot of food, so i'll just set to making a warrior for now.


2550BC -- I see purdy colours

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0010.jpg

Found some dyes today near the Ottomans. Hopefully I can trade some Ivory for them later on.


(CONT...)

2430BC -- Arabian Nights

Bumped into an Arabian scout near the Ottomans today! Said hi, and managed to get $89 for mysticism. I also traded Masonry to the Spanish for a worker. Not a great deal, but Masonry is pretty basic, and a second worker (even foreign) would be handy right now...


2390BC -- Run forest, run!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0011.jpg

Here's a shot of that bigass jungle I was talking about. You doubted me, no? Well there it is. And in the top left, you can see Barcelona, and my scout (#1), who is busy running like hell from a Barbarian (not visible).
Meanwhile, Primus is 3 turns away from my second settler, and Buah made a warrior. They're still 15 (!) turns from pop 2 though, so I just set on making a temple (30 turns). My Spanish worker is gonna dig some roads around my capital to two other nice city locations i've planned out. My other two scouts are busy discovering that that "west ocean" I thought I discovered before might just be a really freaking big lake. Whudathunk?


2270BC -- HAH! Beat ya!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0012.jpg

Beat this Arab scout here to the goodies! Nyah nyah!
Ok, so it was only a third (!) stupid map, but whatever.
Anywho, Primus completed the second settler, and is making a worker now. My other scout is STILL dodging barbarians, and the last just wandered into a desert where some friendly strangers taught him about these silly round things he calls "Wheels".
A quick check of the map reveals... two horses near me (yay!), and one near the other three civilizations (crap). This new tech inspired me to check with the English, who I traded Masonry and Mysticism too for Iron working! HUZZAH!
A second quick check of the map reveals Iron right next to Buah!
The Spanish also has some (though they don't know it yet), and the Ottoman have a supply or two (maybe 3, if they beat the English to it).


2190BC -- Jungle romp

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0013.jpg

My intrepid scouts have found a goodie hut in the jungle that gave us a warrior! He set out towards a barbarian camp and a roaming barbarian busy guarding his precious dyes. My guy is only a conscript though... i'm betting he goes down in flames for his efforts.


2150BC -- You are SO cut

"Down in flames" doesn't even describe what happened. It was more like "bent over and took it up the tailpipe". He didn't do a single point of damage. Meanwhile, my "intrepid scout" is running for his life again. *Sigh*
Oh, and I changed Primus' work queue from a worker to a Settler. I think I need settlers worse than pretty plowed fields.


2110BC -- Jadastrom

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0014.jpg

Founded my third city today, "Jadastrom". That sounds kinda Vikingish, doesn't it?
My second scout also found 4 Ivory kinda near the Ottomans today. So much for my trading plan.


2070BC -- Slave labour

Bumped into India today near where that Ivory is (yay!). I managed to trade Mysticism and 10 gold for another worker. ph33r my army of slaves!


1990BC -- Big lake

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0015.jpg

Yeah, it was a big lake. I guess big enough that its salt water (1 food).
Oh, also note the English jerks who built a city near some ivory south of my territory. Oh, and guess what? At the start of my next turn I get a "Most powerful nations of the world" memo. Guess who's at the top?
THE FREAKIN ENGLISH!
I forsee an Ottoman alliance in the distant future.
And for the record, the nations are: English, Zulu, Mongols, Babylonians, Romans, Indians, Vikings (me), and Arabs.
Yeah, these English are gonna be a very big problem.


1950BC -- Arabs

Quick note, found the Arabs territory (pink). They're pretty far away for now, shouldn't be much of a concern even though they're "annoyed" with me.
On an unrelated note, is my Science slider busted? I've been checking it every turn, but its not doing anything 10% research has the same ETA as 100%, WTF? Oh well, more money for me I guess. With $208 in the bank, im 4 times richer than anyone I know. Now if they only had something to trade!


1870BC -- Settler 3

Primus finished Settler 3, who is gonna run down my road to settle near the horses and gold. Primus, back at population 1, is working on a Granary so I can maybe crank out settlers a wee bit faster.
Otherwise, nothing exciting is happening.


1830BC -- Guerra

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0016.jpg

Made my fourth city, Guerra, and set it working on a Spearman.
My scouts are still wandering, though I doubt there are any goodie huts left in the world.


1750BC -- Err, I mean...

I take that back. I just learned horse riding from a hut! (Apparently stone age men are too stupid to understand the concept of "sit on it", but I guess thats why i'm their enlightened leader).
I also traded Iron Working today to the Indians and Arabs for $108 total. Hey, its all I could get for it!


1700BC -- Uh oh

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0017.jpg

Aw crap. Crap crap crap.
The English are sending four Warriors my way. Damnit! I didn't want war yet!
Because of this, I had to switch spearman production at Guerra to a Warrior, and waste 20 shields at Buah to go from Temple to Spearman. GODDAMN ENGLISH!!
(On a more positive note, I finally found the Indians. They're south of the Arabs and Ottoman)


1650BC -- And the Viking said: HAHA!

YAY! My little troupe of warriors has fended off three of the four attackers! One of my warriors is now Elite because of it too! All right!
Once I get past this last attack, it'll be time to push towards Hastings and see how heavily defended it is.


1600BC -- Counter-Strike, anyone?

I'm surprised, this war is going much better than expected. My Elite warrior easily took care of the last enemy warrior, and just the next turn I get my Iron source hooked up! I wonder how tough the English will be when Swordsmen come knocking on their door! *Evil laughter*

1500BC -- Long eon, no see?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0018.jpg

Wow, that sure didn't FEEL like an Eon, but here we are. Anyways, just to update, ive got 4 Warriors outside Hastings, which has a Spearmen (or more) inside and a warrior right next to it. Prima switched its construction from Granary to Swordsman, so one of those is on its way as well. Meanwhile my "wise men" have almost figured out how to write (I thought teaching them the alphabet and handing them paper was pretty self explanatory, but NOOO, I have to be surrounded by morons.)


1475BC -- Hulk SMASH!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0019.jpg

Well, I figured discretion is the better part of valour, and held off the attack on Hastings for a turn. I sent my Elite Warrior back a square to heal, and left my 3 regulars where they were. They managed to smack down two enemy warriors, one of which was a vet! I hope that doesn't mean hastings has a barracks. Oh well, if they can hold on for a bit, i'll have my Elite back, plus a fresh warrior, and even a swordsman or two in a couple turns!
And now, for even better news... I found one last (well, probably) hut in the jungle! And lo an behold, the smart little buggers knew Mathematics! So I took their lunch money and broke their glasses until they tutored me! Haha!
I did my trading rounds too, and traded Mysticism to the dumb-as-rocks Spanish for $50 (what, I feel sorry for them).
Next up, boy oh boy, this turn just gets better! I decided to try a save and attack on Hastings with my 3 warriors. One of them had 1 health left, so I tossed him at the spearman. He gave him a chop, and then got a pole rammed up his arse. Good enough for me. Then I sent in my one regular warrior... he smacked that spearman silly, AND got a promotion to boot! We marched into Hastings, stole $6, and then burnt the place down!! Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Beth! :D


1400BC -- Gone to see the Oracle?

Minor update. My troops (1 reg, 2 vet, 1 elite warriors, 2 reg swordsmen) are headed towards York, since I couldn't get a very good deal from ol' Bethy for peace.
As for the rest of the world, apparently something is hawt about this "Oracle", cuz the Indians, Ottoman, Arab, and Spanish (LOL!) are building it!
Whatever, its not my shields. Oh, I figured out Writing last turn too, and have started on map making.


1325BC -- Goodbye, my friend

Today is a very sad day in our empire. My special little guy, my very first scout... was ambushed by some evil barbarians deep in his favorite jungle. Words cannot express my sorrows. R.I.P. little guy, and Godspeed! :(
I think i'll go take my anger out on York.


1275BC -- Stupid AI

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0020.jpg

Heh, the AI is dumb. I saw an Archer headed to Hastings to defend it, so I backed my warriors out a square in the hopes of drawing him out, and so I could meet with my first Swordsman. As you can see, it worked. Now my swordsman will have something to sharpen his weapon on before the assault! HAH!
Also in this picture you can see my fourth settler headed south towards the Ivory where Hastings used to be. Primus is only a couple turns away from my fifth settler too, which is nice. Oh, and you can also see (well, one), my tag-team pair of slave workers busy irrigating some land up by Guerra. I kinda like those two. Maybe i'll give them extra bread this week.
Oh, and as a curiosity, apparently the Spanish have contacted the Romans. Their price is steep though (Wheel + Mathematics), so I think i'll hold off talking to Caesar.


1225BC -- Vikings 2 : England 0

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0022.jpg

York is no more. It cost a heavy toll (two vet warriors), but the place is just a pile of rubble now. I did manage to get 2 workers, two upgrades (elite warrior, vet swordsman), and 8 gold out of it though.
That said, I don't really fancy continuing this war much longer. Some of the other cultures already have 6 or 7 cities, where I only have 4 (with 2 more on the way). I did what I wanted to - take the English down a peg. No sense stretching myself even further this early in the game. Time to sue for peace!
*10 seconds later*
Ah, she folded like Mary Poppins after a swift kick to the gut. Peace for one of her cities (Newcastle), and $80. Newcastle ain't great (pop 1, nothing built, in a jungle), but it gives me a forward base to both strike from and protect my territory with. And thats good enough for me!

Oh, and on an odd note.. apparently the Romans got contact with me from someone (Spanish?), cuz I can talk to them now, and I haven't seen a single unit of theirs. Good thing I didn't trade anything for something that was free after all!
Speaking of the Spanish, I think i'm done trading with them now. They're up to the same tech level as the Ottoman now. The English and Arabs are one tech behind, and me, the Indians, and Romans are all on the same page (for now).



1175BC -- Fassa

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0023.jpg

My 6th city is up now, "Fassa"
Its perched on a small hill.. nothing special, just adding to my territory. You can also see my other settler and captured english workers (bottom) headed to the next city site, which will be 1 tile above the workers. Oh, and a horseman is on his way to take care of the stupid barbarians.
Speaking of horsemen, its a good thing I ended the war when I did, cuz the English have horsemen now. Whew!
Anyways, now its time to get back on track. Production and expansion ho!


1125BC -- From Warmonger to Philosophist?

Just busy building my little corner of the world, and wanted to say that I bought Philosophy off the Indians for $150. Not too bad, considering I still have $380 left. Otherwise im just waiting for my cities to pop up a bit so I can actually BUILD stuff. Another 6 turns and i'll get 3 more pop though, so hopefully things will get done faster by then.
(Next turn) Aww! My people love me! I chose a nice shiny black palace. Yum!


1075BC -- Take Fiav

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0024.jpg

Welcome my new city, "Fiav"! Why Fiav? Well, because its almost 'five' o clock (am!) here, and I should have gone to bed about 3 hours ago. Haha! So I should really go to bed. Anyways, ive taken 24 shots, and 24 is my lucky number... it could be a sign! Or, maybe i'm just overtired. Either way, its bed time for me.

So, quick wrap up for the night:
7 cities (mostly producing granaries and temples)
5 workers (4 of them slaves, LOL)
Offensive army of 2 Elite warriors, 2 swordsmen, and a Horseman. Defensive army of two spearmen (Barbarians haven't attacked me yet, thank god).
Tech is going good, i'm about even with the other advanced races.
My advisers tell me my culture is weak, but looking at the histograph tells me that everyones culture is still equal anyways.

My stats:
Scandinavia - Despotism (1.9.0 - whats that mean anyways?)
1075BC, 379 Gold (-1 turn)
Map making (13 turns)

The Score:
England 215
Rome 205
Ottomans 189
India 180
Arabia 179
Scandinavia 173
Spain 169


Yeah, I have some catching up to do.

Anywho, drop some thoughts/ideas/complaints/marriage proposals/spam in this thread, and i'll get back to it tomorrow.


G'nite everyone!

(PS: Someone remind me to build some embassies soon)

Good start MD mate!

Just a few notes;
There's no need to irrigate grassland when you're in Despotism. Instead, build mines at Grassland tiles, and irrigate Plains/Desert.
The reason is that Despotism can't utilize the extra food a Grassland Irrigation will produce.
Later on in the game, when you change government, you can go back and irrigate some of the tiles to promote growth.

Also, sending that second Settler so far away is risky, as you lose so many turns in the very important expansion phase. However, you slained the English progression towards your lands, so it seems you're doing ok!

Exciting story, I'll keep reading for sure :)


EDIT:
Originally posted by MachDelta
[B][b]
My stats:
Scandinavia - Despotism (1.9.0 - whats that mean anyways?)


The numbers represent your setting of the tax sliders. IIRC it's Luxury-Science-Tax.

Great story, and fun to read!

You should mine those bonus grasslands and let your cities grow to size 4-6 before building settlers. That way you can increase production. But it seems you're doing pretty well anyway. :thumbsup:

Good start MD.

For some reason the screen shots are not loading for me so I'll check back later.

Originally posted by GR8Madmax
For some reason the screen shots are not loading for me so I'll check back later.
Same with me.(edit: nevermind I can see them now.)

But anyways good start and story:)

-lenny

Great story so far!

I like this! :)

(Looks like you found the Amazon! :lol: )

What?! Why are you irrigating grassland, especially in despotism?! It is a waist of potential shield and other worker functions! Because you are in despotism, you can't do more than 2 anyway!

Because i'm a newbie and this is only my fourth game, silly! :p

Story in a sec.

1075BC (still) -- Diplomatic Immunity

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0025.jpg

In an effort to rebuild relations with the English, I built an embassy in London for $33. I also discovered that they're 49 turns from building The Oracle, and, as you can see, don't really have much else going on in their capitol.
Anyways, one of the REAL reasons I made an Embassy was to see how expensive stealing technology was... but I can't? For whatever reason, it won't let me even try it. Excuse the minor rant, but the Espionage screen is one of the weakest parts of Civ 3. Its VERY unintuitive, and consequently quite frustrating for a newbie like myself. But I digress.
I also made a Roman embassy for $45, just because I wanted to know where their territory was. Turns out they're way north of the Spanish, about the same latitude as my capitol. This continent is quite a lot bigger than I thought! As for Rome itself, its pretty crappy. Its a pop 1 with no improvements, and only one spearman and an idle settler defending it. They DO have a lot of grassland, a little tundra, and some dyes within their tiles though. But that is of little concern to me at the moment.


975BC -- Oracle built

Well, the Babylonians built their Oracle. Yay for them, wherever they are. I really don't care about any of the Stone Age level wonders myself. The Colossus isn't that great, the Pyramids are OK but nothing special, the Oracle is nice but not amazing, the Great Lib is an overpriced crutch (IMO), the Hanging Gardens are short lived, and the Great Wall is next to useless. Sometimes i'll build the Great Lighthouse, since the extra movement and far reaching Galleys can be a huge help (especially on island maps). But this isn't looking like much of an Island map, so I think i'll leave it for now.

Nothing exciting to report otherwise. I'm just hunkered down and trying to build up some population now. Oh, and of course now that the Oracle is done, everyone and their dog has switched to building the Pyramids. Part of me would like to see the English get it, so I could pry it from their cold, dead fingers down the road... but the rest of me would rather see the English not build ANYTHING for the next 2000 years. Heh, I wish.


950BC -- Damn Them

Aw crap, you know that Iron deposit between the Ottoman and the English? The English got it (or put a Colony on it). That means they can get Swordsmen too now. Bah I say, Bah!



800BC -- Still Here

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0026.jpg

I blitzed through a couple turns here because I was waiting for some construction and population. Primus and Jadastrom finished their Granaries (yay!) and have started on a worker and another settler. My other cities are almost done their projects (except Fiav), and my workers are busy building roads and mining things up (thanks for the tip, BTW). So hopefully I can get some semblance of an industrial machine up and running right quick here, before I lag too far behind the AIs.


710BC -- Damn Them Again

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0027.jpg

Ack, the stupid English have rebuilt York. Except now its called Liverpool.
Meanwhile i'm getting the feeling that i'm just not building anything as fast as the (dirty cheating) AI. Gah. Score wise i'm only third last, which is OK I guess... but I just can't shake this feeling that things aren't as they should be...


690BC -- The Roman Empire

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0028.jpg

Well, I spent this turn trading Territory maps with everyone I know, just to see how the world looked. As you can see, the Romans have a nice little Empire going here. Hopefully the Spanish will slow them down a bit. Romans on a rampage is the last thing I'd need!


630BC -- Seafaring Civ

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0029.jpg

Yay! My first Galley is off! I'll let it wander around for a bit while I keep building stuff. In the meantime, i'm still behind... in everything actually. My military is now considered weak, my culture hasn't moved, and I don't have that many cities. The only thing i'm decent at is spare change... about $400 on hand now. Not that I can actually SPEND it on anything, but hey. I'm starting to think that a dash to Monarchy would be good right about now.


530BC -- Sonajk

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0030.jpg

Welcome back, 100 years later. I just founded another city, "Sonajk", north of my Capital. Its some pretty good land, but I think its high time I started looking towards southern territory before the AI snaps it all up.
Also seen in this picture is my new Elite spearman off to kill some Barbarians, and a bunch of new workers I cranked out who are busy mucking about.
I'm also bringing my 2 elite warriors back north so I can upgrade them into swordsmen. It might be time for another war soon, so I want to be at least somewhat prepared.


490BC -- Dunce Civ

Crap! While I wasn't looking, the other AIs researched a bunch of techs and traded them with each other! Ack! Now everyone has Construction, Code of Laws, and Literature but ME! I guess I do have $400 though, so i'll see what I can trade for it...
Ah! My Indian friends came through. My World map and $270 got me Code of Laws and Literature. Not an entirely bad trade if I say so myself. Construction I won't worry about till later, since any city that is size 6 would be cranking settlers now anyways.
Like I said before... I hope i'm not falling too far behind here.


430BC -- War Again

Oh wonderful. The stupid Romans tried to blackmail me out of my world map (no biggy) and 70 gold. So I told them where they could stick their offer, and they declared war on me! Oh well, i'm not worried. Unless they have a huge navy, they wont be able to land any sizable force on my land - and if they plan on hoofing it, their foot soldiers should arrive in about 800 years :P. Thank the map for that huge jungle!


350BC -- Wunderbar

Yeesh. Four turns, four wonders completed! The Spanish got the Great Wall, the Indians got the Pyramids, the Mongols got the Colossus, and the Ottomans got the Great Library.
Meanwhile i'm busy rushing my sorry ass towards Monarchy (and i'm hemorrhaging money to do it too). Honestly i'm not sure if its the right choice - I could go for republic just as easilly. The thing is, i've never tried Monarchy yet, and it doesn't sound so bad. Corruption is a pain in the ass, but not having units cost cash every turn would be great. So what the heck, i'll give it a whirl.
Oh, i'm also starting to crank out some more settlers now. I've got one on the move, and three due within 4 turns. Now I just need the military to defend them all, haha!
And no, I haven't seen any Romans yet.


310BC -- This Game Officially Sucks

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0031.jpg

Well.. i'd rant and rave and whine, but you guys probably don't want to hear it, so i'll give it to you straight:
Rome was at war with me, right? Yeah well now they drug the Ottomen AND India into it too!! Now i've got to say... what the F*CKING HELL!? How does the AI manage these things?? I'd never done anything to make the Ottomen angry, yet here they are. And the Indians... the Indians! Lead by the great Pacifist himself! And the ONE nation that was actually being POLITE with me!! HOW?!? WHY?!? WTF?!?!!
I just don't get it. I couldn't convince any other nation to attack someone if I sold them my first born, but the damned Romans just pay someone (two someones!) off like that. Like the title says, this game officially sucks right now.
Oh, and just because misery loves company, there's supposed to be a "massive barbarian uprising" near Newcastle (the southern city by the lake I got from the English). Yeah, whatever. Thats the least of my freaking problems.

*Sigh*

Anyways, its 3am, i'm tired (was a long day at work), and I really don't feel like dealing with this BS right now. Maybe some of you will have some brilliant ideas as to how I can spin this (maybe I can go back a turn and pay off the Ottomen? Not likely if the Indians were so easily bribed). Or maybe you'll just sit back and have a good laugh while I get my newbie ass stomped.


Bah humbug.



Oh yeah, and the nightly stats:
Scandinavia - Despotism (0.10.0)
310BC, 32 Gold (-9 turn)
Monarchy (23 turns)

The Score:
Rome: 324
Ottomans: 307
England: 292
India: 279
Scandinavia: 271
Arabia: 268
Spain: 266

Great story so far :)

You should NOT go back a turn and pay off the Ottomans; reloading isn't the way to go if you want to get better at Civ!
Of course it's your game and you can do what you want, but you shouldn't do it - especially not in a Story Game.

Also - as you say this is your fourth game, and you're playing on Monarch!? No wonder you feel that you're struggling - I've played this game for years, and still struggle with Monarch!
You should go through one level at a time, and try each level with different world settings/opponents :)

Maybe you should try to get an ally? You say that nobody wants to even discuss that with you, and I guess you've done something to ruin your reputation. Remember, reputation and relations to another civ is 2 different things! I.e. someone can be Gracious towards you, but still don't want to agree to any deals as you've messed up your reputation.
Only thing I can think of that you might've done to piss the AI off, is when you attacked England. Did you declare war BEFORE you moved units inside his border? If you have units within someones border before you declare war, you will take a serious reputation hit!

Anyway, keep it up, it's an interesting read! Looking forward to see how the wars will go!

It doesn't look like a big deal to me. Just build up your military (as much as you can as soon as you can) and get peace with the coalition members. It's going to take them a while to get mobilized. If you have any offensive troops, stick them in the jungle for picket duty, maybe. The only nation I'd be worried about is England, see if you can get her on your side.

The only problem is that now you can't trade with most of the civs you know...

Berren: England attacked me! I haven't done anything to aggravate the AI so far (other than the occasional border infringement with a scout). I've traded with all of them too. I think they're just being cranky as usual :\

Maybe i'll just crank out some spearmen and keep building up like Coffee said here. England is kind of cranky with me, but i'll see what I can do to butter her up. :p

*Sigh* Nope. Nope nope nope. I just mucked about with a few saves and a few turns to see if I can worm my way out of things with diplomacy, but its not working.
Basically my two options are:

1) Go back to the end of last turn (right before the alliances were declared), and ally with England against the Romans. This seems to cause them to freak out and not call in any allies of their own.

2) Continue on as normal, unable to trade anything with the AI (it seems that, over that single AI turn, the AI traded about 3-4 techs amongst themselves). Then I get to watch as, over the next ~5 turns, every single nation forms alliances and declare war on me.

So i'm either a cheater, or i'm f*cked.



Thanks for watching guys. :(

Try not reloading. You can probably survive if you fight hard, and build spearmen like no tommorow. You'll probably only be in an active war with three civs even if they all declare war on you.

I still think if you build up troops rapidly, by time that they get to your borders, they'll be willing to talk - and then you can STEAL their goodies! (For some reason, tech-stealing seems a lot easier in C3C. Not sure if it's me, but I've gotten it three out of four times...two of which were "immediate" steals, in monarchy.)

230BC -- A New Hope?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0032.jpg

Geez. I wasn't keeping a log of my progress so far because I figured it was fairly hopeless, what with the Ottomen, Indian, and Roman empires all at war with me, and others soon to follow. But, out of morbid curiosity if nothing else, I pushed on to see what I could make of the situation. Now do forgive me if I miss some details, but i'll quickly summarize the last few turns:
-One Ottoman warrior was beat senseless by a spearman
-Another Ottoman warrior was spotted by one of my horsemen. The next turn I saw a huge horde of Barbarians (remember that uprising?) chasing after him! HAHA! I assume he's dead now, since I haven't seen him in a few turns.
-I built two more cities, "Arsuun" in the south (by the cows), and "Ryysk" just north of Fiav. Don't ask me why I chose the double vowels. :P
-After building my two cities, I immediately switched everything over to military production. I scrapped a few shields here and there, but i've got a couple more spearmen and swordsmen sitting around. The interesting thing now though, is that my "future predictions" didn't come true. When I built nothing and just fast forwarded through a few turns, the English, Indians, and Spanish all declared war on me. But a couple more units, it seems, has made all the difference!
-While checking my diplomatic options (which are: none) I discovered that Spain is also at war with the Romans now. So I hit up old Izzy-green-eyes and traded a RoP, an Alliance vs the Romans (whom i'm already at war at), and Currency. So basically I got a tech (and an ally) for free! YAY!
-India, the bastards, tried to bully Polytheism out of me. I told them to shove it, but later went back and (on a hunch) traded Polytheism for their World map and $30. My hunch played out - the Indians had everyones maps (including the Romans)! So now at least I know my way around the place. It was a bit of an expensive trade, yes, but hopefully it keeps the Indians off my back. We'll see.


210BC - Misery DOES love company

Joy. The Ottomen somehow convinced the English to declare war on me. Since the English are right close, this could be a very bad thing. However, if I can rush the English fast enough, and burn Liverpool to the ground, I may be able to sue for peace before they can bring their forces to bear. Hmm.


170BC -- Attacks

Enemy death toll so far: 2 warriors, 1 archer. I haven't lost any units yet, but I see the English are bringing some swordsmen my way real soon.
I did find that wandering Warrior too - he somehow managed to survive, and is an Elite! I'll see if I can run him down with my horseman some time.


150BC -- Burn, Baby

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0033.jpg

In boring news: The Babylonians finished the Great Lighthouse.
Concerning the more pressing matters, i'm still cranking spearmen and hoping there isn't a huge enemy attack right around the corner. But I did have some success today. For one, I managed to kill that wandering Elite Warrior. He almost took out my Swordsman, who's now a Veteran (and rightfully so!) But in even better news, I burnt down Liverpool! HAHA! Of course, it (and the counter attack) cost me two spearmen. But I took out two of their own, plus a Swordsman in the process (oh, right, and a whole friggin TOWN too, heehee). The English aren't talking to me yet, but I suspect that when they do, they'll be a little more willing to negotiate.


90BC -- Leeds Them To Death

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0034.jpg

Hah, the stupid English re-built their colony for a third time (lol), and called it "Leeds". All its fortified with right now is an Archer, so I think I might just go in and smash it AGAIN!
As you can also see in this shot, two swordsmen are headed towards Newcastle. Hopefully my own Swordsmen, a Warrior, my Horseman, and a rushed Spearman will be able to defend it.


70BC -- Beer in the fridge, bathroom upstairs...

The Arabians have declared war on me now too. Oh no! What ever will I do! But I guess as long as we're having a party, everyone is invited! Beer is in the fridge, the bathroom is upstairs, and if you head downstairs, you'll notice that Leeds has been burnt to the f*cking ground. *Evil Laughter*
I founded a new city today too and called it "Myne" in honour of keeping that territory from the English. Plus its built on a hill... so whatever.


50BC -- Roman casualties, English Peace!

Heh, the first roman casualty by my hand this year. It was only a Galley, but i'm telling you, MY galley kicked HIS galleys ASS! ;)
Meanwhile, the English lost 3 more swordsmen by wandering them around aimlessly for my Horsemen to pick off. Afterwards I went and had a chat with ol' Beth. She agreed to give me $60 for peace. I don't know how long it will last, but whatever.
The bad news is a small Ottoman attack force is headed towards Newcastle. I should have a large contingent of spearmen there by then though. My only worry is that my workers wont have roads up fast enough, and i'll be outmaneuvered by their forces. Hopefully not though.

Oh, and just as a question... will the AI EVER lend a player money? I've never seen it happen, and i've never seen it as an option to loan the AI money. Whats the deal with that?


10AD -- No friend of mine

Big news this turn is that the Spanish declared war on me, thanks to the stupid Ottomen. I'd sign more treaties with these guys, but the only thing I can offer them is a city, which is NOT happening as long as i've still got troops guarding it (Newcastle).


30AD -- Ottomen attack

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0035.jpg

Here you can see the Ottomen finally on the offensive. They've got 2 horsemen, an archer, and a swordsman. Newcastle has 3 spearmen, 3 swordsmen, and my scouting horseman. Plus reinforcements from the north, if need be. You can also see my warrior scout off to the east, who will be probing the Ottomans eastern flank. They've got a few new cities down that way that probably aren't very well defended (and don't have roads to them yet). If I can hold off long enough to sneak a bunch of swordsmen down there, I might be able to scare the Ottomen into a peace treaty.
I still don't have plans for the Indians, Arabians, or Spanish though. Not that any of them really worry me since they're all so far away. I haven't seen any Arabians, and only one Indian warrior. As for the Spanish, i'm kind of confused. I was going to say "I'll just let the romans beat them up", but when I checked my diplo screen, the two weren't at war. But the odd thing is, they weren't at peace either! There are no lines between the two anymore -- What the heck does that mean??


50AD -- More than I thought

Darn. I guess my Scout wasn't seeing the whole picture. The Indians have one warrior nearby, but the Ottoman force has increased to: 4 horsemen, 2 archers, and 1 swordsman. I wonder who else is hiding int the jungle?
I think they're headed towards Newcastle, so a little preemptive strike of mine has managed to kill the swordsman and an archer, and wound a Horseman.


90AD -- Newcastle siege

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0036.jpg

Yup, they were after Newcastle. The good news is, despite them getting even more reinforcements (and another Indian warrior showing up), I didn't loose a single unit in the attack, whereas he lost a couple (I wasn't keeping track, sorry).
Also in the good news department, my military strength has grown manyfold. Whereas it used to be "weak" by almost everyones standards, its now on par with the Ottomen, Arabian, and Indian. I'm even stronger than the English and Spanish, yet still weaker than the Romans.
I also finish Monarchy tomorrow, but i'm not sure if I should try switching governments in the middle of a war...


110AD -- Anarchy

What the hell, why not switch governments now? I've got a decent military force to the south already, and anything I try and build now won't be ready in time to help anyways. So here I go!
Oh, and on the non military front, i'm getting set up to establish 3 (!) new towns. Yeah, I built settlers when you weren't looking :P


150AD -- Indians Attack

Yup, here come the Indians. Here's a quick sum up of the forces involved:
Ottomen: 3 Horsemen, 1 Archer
Indian (that I can see): 5 Archers, 1 Warrior
Me: Group A: 6 Spearmen, 1 Swordsman
Group B: 6 Spearmen, 4 Swordsmen
Plus a Horseman roaming around (I had two, but one died), another swordsman on the way, and three Spearmen guarding a rear city.

I'd say things aren't looking as bad as I thought!


170AD -- PEACE!!!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0037.jpg

Spanish: Peace, Construction, and $80 for Peace and Monarchy
Indian: Peace and $180 (!) for Peace and Monarchy
Ottoman: Peace for Peace and $120
Arabian: Peace for Peace and $100
Roman: Peace and WMap for Peace, WMap, and $90
So I lost around 100 bones, but to get everyone off my back AND kick me into the next age is well worth it!
PS: Note the Spanish and Romans are back at war again? Weird.


190AD -- Mournlock

Heh, the English declared war on the Spanish this turn. Seems everyone wants to fight, eh?
Anyways, I founded a new town today: "Mournlock". And guess where its built. Thats right: Right ontop of the ruins of Leeds/Liverpool/Whatever ! Hah! But yes, I chose the name to honour all the deaths of the warriors (and English citizens) of that last war.


210AD -- Romans suck

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0038.jpg

Ugh. Those goddamn Romans demanded a tribute from me again! This time all they wanted though was a Territory map and $26, so I gave it to them. Hopefully they'll shut up and stick to killing Spaniards for a while now.
In other news, i'm into a Monarchy government now, which is nice. I've never tried a Monarchy before, so i'll see how it goes.
Anyways... back to building! And building I am. I founded yet another town on my very northern tundra tip, called "Icedann". Its not a great spot, but i'll set to building a temple so it can become a fishing town. With a little luck later on in the game though, that tundra will turn out to be filled with something other than ice.


250AD -- Sunk my battleship

Sad news today. My sole Galley was sunk just off the Roman coast by some Barbarians. Oh well, i'll just build another one later.


270AD -- Mendsurt

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0039.jpg

My third settler finally got moved in, to a place called "Mendsurt". Its a nice little spot, right on the edge of the jungle by some horses. Also worth noting in this picture: My warrior scout to the south just saw an Indian spearman/settler combo roll into town! I guess land is hard to find near the Indians (check the map). Also, an English Spearman/Settler combo is invading my territory up by Myne. I really don't like it when the AI does that - walks through your borders to settle a city. So I think i'll ***** - but i'm not sure I want war with the English again so soon.


290AD -- Spanish in trouble

Heh, the Spanish contacted me today asking for an alliance vs the English. Unfortunately they have nothing to offer me (besides a RoP), so I declined.
Just looking at the map though, tells me they are getting mopped up by the Romans and English. They used to have 7 or 8 cities, but they're down to four now. I fear they might not last much longer, and that the Romans will be free to expand into that huge chunk of land uncontested. But there isn't a whole lot I can do about them right now, is there?
In other news, the Indians founded a city (Dacca) just north of my Warrior. Its actually not a bad spot... next time i'm at war with the Indians, i'll be sure to take it.


(CONT...)

310AD -- Do I smell something?

Well to start out on a somewhat happy note, the Babs finished the Hanging gardens (these guys are grabbing ALL the wonders - where are they?). Oh, and the Spanish signed a treaty with the English (though it might not matter much).
Back in reality, the Indians have just blatantly (4 troops) invaded my friggin territory. Do I call them on it? I could easilly defend myself, i'm just worried about another "lets gang up on the player" fest. But what the heck: India! GET OUT!
... Well, Ghandi said "My sincere regrets" which is kind of surprising actually. But yay, it worked!


320AD -- Or not...

Ok, the frikkin retarded AI that had his troops auto-moved by me last turn... JUST MOVED THEM BACK! Meanwhile i've seen Ottoman forces wandering around the nearby jungle. They'd better not be here for me again, or i'm gonna be PISSED. And this time they won't get off scott free. But i'll let the Indians go this time... maybe they're just trying to get back home (walk AROUND my territory next time, idiots).


330AD -- Whew...

Yeah, the idiots are just trying to get to Dacca (their new city). So whatever. And the Ottomen are leaving the jungle now, so whatever. My biggest problem at the moment is dealing with a single Barbarian horseman, and worrying about falling behind the AI again. As it stands, i'm the third last ranked (known) player. Which isn't saying much, considering the English aren't very impressive right now, and the Spanish have been all but crushed.
Oh, and I rebuilt a Galley this year. I'll send it around the other side of the continent this time.


350AD -- Reading

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0040.jpg

The English put down roots off my south coast near Mendsurt, in a little place called Reading. I'll be sure to burn that too when we next go to war ;)
One thing i'm noticing is that a lot of room is running out now. The Indians have two far flung colonies, the Arabians are starting to expand into "The Amazon", and all the prime spots are pretty much taken. All I really have left is a stupid useless desert, but I guess I better jump on it pretty quick here.
Oh, and one quick thing that sucks: The Indians and Romans are building Sun Tzu's. Thats a wonder I actually like, especially as a militaristic civ :( Oh well.


420AD -- Lodo

Wow, its been a long time eh?
Well basically i've just been trying to build stuff like mad, but i'm still pretty far behind. I founded a new city, "Lodo", in the middle of that big desert. Its not that exciting, so no screenshot.
In international news, Madrid has recently fallen to the Romans. The Spanish have two cities left... so I think they're pretty much toast. Again, the amount of territory the Romans control makes me worry very much. But i'm really not sure what I can do about it. No one is in any sort of position to attack them, and they're the most advanced civ (on this continent).


450AD -- Farewell, Isabella

Yup, the Romans trashed the Spanish good.
Not much else exciting, though I signed a ROP with the English, and i'm trying to tech up to Invention so I can get Berserkers. I LOVE Berserkers >:)



530AD -- Dreary Night

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0041.jpg

Well, its bed time for me, so this is where I stop. This is a nice big shot of my territory, unimpressive as it may be.
As for the 'dreary' part, well thats just because i'm still behind, and not sure how I can catch up. The AI is a tech or two ahead of me, but I don't have anything to trade with them (no trade routes yet!). The romans are STILL growing unchecked (see minimap). They've got a pathetic Culture score (hence all the gaps), but their power is insane. If they ever go to war with India or England, its definitely going to take an alliance to stop them, much less retaliate.

Anyways, in closing i'd just like to say thanks to everyone for the encouragement, even when I was sure i'd be dead (experience is great... I just need some!). And, if you'd please, drop some tips as to what my next move should be. I don't know how long I can play the waiting game and just hope that the AI starts squabbling amongst itself (without dragging me in this time).

Thanks again guys, and g'nite :)


Nightly stats:
Scandinavia - Monarchy (5.4.1)
530AD 20 Gold (+3 per turn)
Engineering (30 turns)

Score:
Rome: 587
Ottomans: 520
India: 486
Scandinavia: 484
Arabia: 471
England: 450:
Spain (dead): 286

Based on the fact that the AI can always see the resources, I think Leeds is on one.

Since there isn't much room for expansion I think it's time to prepare for another war. The best bully for you is of course the English. When you can, build loads of knights, berserks and some defensive & bombardment units (You should have 4-7 cities with barracks and good shield production to build your military). Check out your unit support from the military advisor to make sure you won't lose too much money (and build marketplaces & roads! Money is da power!). Use your Stack of Death to attack Nottingham and London. Try to use forest/mountains/hills to give you defensive bonus.

If you manage to wipe out the English, you should be able to have a trade route to Ottomans, Arabs and Indians. When you have the money, build embassies to their capitals and try to get an alliance with them against the Romans.

This will be a tough game, but when looking the scores, you're not much behind the Romans. In harder difficulty levels the AI will always be ahead of you in the middle ages.

Go for it, :king: !

Yeah, I'd say too that I guess there's a future resource there..

Good story, but perhaps you could decrease the screenshot dimensions? It's a little painful to have to use the horizontal scroll to read the text. :(

Great job finishing all those wars! :D

Sorry Inshun, but thanks for letting me know. I'll have to fiddle around in my screencapture program... I'm pretty sure it has an auto-resizing ability, so I should be able to shrink them all to 800x640 or something more comfortable. :)

Thanks for the advice too guys. I guess i'll start building some 'zerker stacks and see if I can take out Reading, Nottingham, and London. Maybe Coventry too - I think thats the English's only source of Iron. But we'll see how far I get :p

How about a city between Sonajk and Jaderstrom on the coast. Your not using all those tiles. Looks like your core could use some more mines and roads on the worked tiles. Do you have enough workers/slaves? Also, first chance fiscally possible go to war with Rome when you can get an alliance with Rome and/or India.

I'm enjoying your humor.

Good eye. There are three unworked tiles between Sonajk and Jaderstrom, two tiles between Jaderstrom and Fassa and one between Primus and Guerra. I'll probably drop a city between the first two cities eventually though. It should have exclusive access to... *counts*... 6 ocean and 2 land. Thats enough for a small city I suppose.

Oh, and yeah workers is something I need more off too. I only have a dozen or so (last time I checked), and almost half of those are slaves. I've been popping off a few workers from cities that are hitting max population, but I should probably crank out a few more deliberately real soon here.


Thanks, BTW. Its good to know you guys are enjoying my bumbling attempts at documenting this mess. Coming up with titles for each update is my favorite part for some reason :p

I'm happy to see that you didn't give up or reload! As you see, there's always a way out of even the worst of situations :)

Nice story, and funny to read!

Next step imo would be to crank out a lot of workers, and improve your territory with mines, roads, irrigation etc. While your workers are improving, you should build military and attack the English, to snatch some more territory.

I see that you're razing the cities you attack, this isn't always a good idea as it'll cause a reputation hit for you! Reputation is almost impossible to rebuild, so you should be more careful, and capture some cities instead of razing them all. I normally never raze cities unless there's a good reason for it.
A tarnished reputation will make it very hard to persuade the AI to sign military alliances and other agreements!

Also, a tip for catching up in tech: Explore the seas! If you can find that other continent, you have a golden ace card up your sleeve - as you can now trade contact and maps for tech&cash with BOTH continents! That's a lot of potential 'income' for you :)
Research towards the seafaring techs, and in the meantime send out suicide galleys, and you might be lucky and find the other continent.

Good luck, and keep the story going - I'm really enjoying it here at work :D

The English put down roots off my south coast near Mendsurt, in a little place called Reading. I'll be sure to burn that too when we next go to war ;)

Hey, i live there !

Berrern: razing city only ticks the AI off. It does nothing to hurt your trading reputation, just their attitude with you. Bamspeedy wrote a great article in Strategy and Tips about what makes the AI mad and such. :)

550AD -- Farjok

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0042.jpg

A while ago I had discovered a tiny island just off the Roman coast. It was only two tiles though, so I ignored it. Later on though, I had an extra settler floating around and a galley nearby, so I wrangled up a spearman and stuck both of them on the galley with the intent of grabbing a coastal spot near where the Spanish used to be. Unfortunately by the time my Galley got there, the Romans and English had already moved in (see minimap).
So, not wanting to have wasted all that effort, I dropped my settler and spearman off on that little two-square island, and named it "Farjok". Now it may seem silly, but its actually a nice little spot. For one, the island is immune to attack! For now anyways. Since i'm the Vikings, the first amphibious unit the Romans (or anyone) can get is, AFAIK, marines.
Secondly, Roman culture is VERY weak. Infact, its rather pathetic - mine is weak as is, yet the Romans look up to us! I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't built a single temple yet. So if the Romans stay culture-lite, and I go culture heavy in Farjok... with a little luck, I can eventually flip Lutetia and get a beachhead into Roman territory to launch future attacks from. If not, it would make a nice naval base to control that bay from, or, at the very least, a nice spot to launch tactical nukes from. Hehehe.

In other news, I finally struck a trade deal this turn. I managed to get some Dyes and 1gpt from the Indians for some Ivory. It even bumped their status from Annoyed back to Polite. Good ol' Ghandi - he's such a friendly little bastard! (But if HE gets nukes, i'm leaving this rock. In a spaceship.)
Unfortunately, NO ONE else has any trade routes, which is kind of odd because we're already into the middle ages. Hm.



570AD -- Damn Romans, part 3

UGH! They demanded ANOTHER tribute! But since its only a territory map and 22 gold... i'll give it to them. Again. I swear, one day I will wipe the cheeky look off that motherf*ckers face. But for now I must have patience...
Not much else going on though. I'm building a couple more workers, since I only have 9 of my own and 4 slaves.


600AD -- Wash behind your ears

Ack. Disease has struck newcastle, since its surrounded by jungle (and forest). But all my workers are busy with other things. Ah well.


620AD -- Venda and Odso

Founded two 'filler' towns today. "Venda" is to the north between Jadastrom and Sonajk (as suggested). "Odso" is in the south, between Arsuun and Mendsurt.
Oh, and I don't know if you can see them in this shot, but the English have TWO spear/settler combos wandering in my territory. (One south east of Mendsurt, one south east of Mournlock). I honestly have to wonder what the AI is doing, since there really isn't any great land to settle. Yeah I have a few gaps here and there, but if England tried to settle any of them, they'd probably end up flipping (or just being liabilities if/when we go to war). But I guess AI doesn't think of that kind of thing, do they?


640AD -- LAND HO!!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0044.jpg


Can you see it? I CAN! That's someones border, though I'm not quite sure who. Now i've just got to pray that my little Galley can cross the ocean in one piece!


650AD -- Plato's Cave

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0043.jpg

It made it! WOOHOO!
Turns out thats a Mongol coast. Actually, it turns out thats a huge Mongol island!
Now check out the rest of the world, and... WHOA the Babylonians are dominating! They make the Romans look downright puny by comparison. Really NOT a good thing. But i'll worry about intercontinental affairs later.

In the meantime, this is what I traded around.
Mongols: Republic, Babylonians, Egyptians, $97, World Map for Feudalism, Indians, Arabs, Ottomans
Carthage: Engineering, Monotheism, Zulu, for Romans, English, and Indians
Babylonians: Monotheism for territory map and contact with all civs (Arab, Indian, English, Roman, Ottoman)
India: Chivalry for world map, Zulu, Egyptian, and $4
I would have LOVED to get Invention from the Babylonians, but they weren't having any of that. Anywho, I expect the rest of the world to spread maps and contacts right quick here, so it should be interesting.

Back to the new continent though: Holy frikkin hell. Not only is it big, its STRONG too. Wanna know the scores? Do ya? I bet ya' do. You'd really just love to know how pathetic I am in comparison to the AI, wouldn't you? Yes yes, your curiosity is starting to take hold, rising up in the back of your head like a protester in I riot to shout "JUST F*CKING TELL US ALREADY!!!"

So here we go ;)

Babylon: 947
Egypt: 747 (insert airplane noises here)
Zululand: 712
Rome: 657
Mongols: 627
Ottomans: 576
Scandinavia: 544
India: 537
Arabia: 526
England: 490
Carthage: 380
Spain (dead): 267

Now if you'll excuse me, I will be over in the corner, cowering in fear from the mighty three empires on the other continent.
Seriously though, look at that gap! Theres like 55 points between the Zulu and the Romans, and 290 between the Babylonians and Romans! 290! Thats almost whole frikkin' civ!
I'm guessing its because the landmass over there is larger. Thats not exactly a *comfort*, mind you. Actually, it just means I am REALLY screwwed unless I can expand like mad up to Babylonian levels (never mind the friggin Romans!)
But one step at a time here.

Oh, and not that you'd care, but I established Arabian and Ottoman embassies this turn for about $115 (for both)



680AD -- AI trading

Yup, the AI definitely shuffled a lot of stuff around. I can't trade any more contacts or maps for anything of value anymore, and like 4 civs just started building Leo's workshop (Invention). That sucks, because I really like that wonder. But i'll live without it - I guess I have to, since no one is willing to trade ME invention. No, i'm just a stupid player. Think if I made beeping noises and walked into walls they'd confuse me for an AI? *Ponders*


730AD -- Troop movements

I saw the Romans have Medieval infantry now. Not good, but not a huge concern either. The Indians seem to be shuffling spearmen around for whatever reason, and those two English spear/settler pairs... seem to have stopped in Reading (that little town in my territory). Oh, and the Mongols are landing more settlers on that panhandle south of their island. I really need to get the cash to establish more embassies soon, so I can get a better sense of how the world is working(ish).
Meanwhile, i'm still building a few random items while I wait for my researchers to finish Invention (6 turns). Once i'm done that, i'll go nuts with the Berserkers, build an army, and then see who's ass needs kicking.


740AD -- Early Invention

The Indians approached me today about our Dyes-Ivory deal, saying they wanted to cancel. So I tacked on Invention, and gave them some badly needed horses. The Indians really don't have much in the way of resources, so I might as well make good on a deal while I don't have to face them directly. But someone remind me in 20 turns (umm... 940?) to renegotiate the deal.


760AD -- 'Zerkers

I've started building some Berserkers now. They take about 7-8 turns in my major cities, which isn't too bad to start with. I also upgraded a bunch of spearmen to pikemen. Cost me $140 for 7 of them. Owch. Think I can still build Leo's Workshop real quick?



810AD -- Indiots?

I don't believe it. The Indians just demanded I give them 25 gold and a map. What?! Have they lost their friggin minds? I'm supplying these guys with horses! They don't even have Iron! Their best unit is an Archer for cryin' out loud. Oh, but their forces outnumber ours - i'm so shaking in my boots as I crank out Pikemen and Berserkers!
Of course, I told them to get lost. Ghandi had a hissy fit, but didn't declare war. Man that really pisses me off - i'm tempted to take their little craphole town near my borders (Dacca). I'll have to see if the Ottomen are up for an alliance, and then weigh my options.


830AD -- I feel dumb again

Sheesh, everyones ahead of me in tech again! Not by far, but I noticed a lot of civs have Gunpowder and Education. The Babs even started on Caps Observatory, meaning they have Astronomy! Yikes!


860AD -- Easilly forgotten

Well, the Indians are back to liking me again, so hopefully they won't have another, uh, "outburst" like that. My military is on par with theirs now too, since i've been building quite a bit of stuff.
I could launch an attack force right now of about 6 berzerks, 6 medi infantry, and 6 pikemen (odd numbers, no?). But I think i'll wait and build up a little more before I go bash some English heads in.


940AD -- Speaking of easilly forgotten...

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0045.jpg

Hey! Ho... just a couple years have gone by, eh? Well, basically i'm still prepping for an attack on England. The good news is, trade routes are starting to open up a bit. So I traded Horses and Ivory with the Indians for Gunpowder, and Furs and 7gpt (!) for Ivory with the Babylonians.
Speaking of Gunpowder, yes, I have some. Two, infact, in the (long awaited?) screenshot. Turns out that desert was handy for something after all! Heh.
As for the other nations... the Ottomen have two, the Indians have one (though a quick strike could cut it off easilly), and the Arabians have two. The English are, uh, peter-less. Both amusing, AND good news! ;)
The Romans have one too, though if they're ever tempted for a second one, it'd be India's ass on the recieving end. I think the only other nation without saltpeter is Egypt. I'll have to hop on a trade with them as soon as one opens.


(CONT...)

950AD -- Damn Romans, part 8,494,292

Territory map, and 22 gold. Its like a friggin ritual with these guys. But I'm tellin ya.. just a couple more straws, and this camel is gonna go f*cking kung-fu on his ass.

On a slightly weirder note, it turns out that, of all the civs racing for Leo's Workshop, it was the puny Carthigans who got it done! They've only got a score of, like 420ish, which is almost half of mine, and 1/3rd of the crazy Babylonians!


970AD -- Yellow Monkey Wrench

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0046.jpg

What the heck are the Ottomen doing? Two horsemen and an Archer? I already yelled at them once to get out, but they just ran farther INTO my territory.
Screw it, if i'm gonna beat someone up, it might as well be someone who's ticking me off. So i'll call them on it... and, yup. Its war time! Oooh, they're gonna regret this.


980AD -- Golden Axe

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0047.jpg

Well, thanks to my very first attack with a Berzerker, im now in a golden age.
*Cue music*
LLLLLLLEEEEEETTSSS GET REAADY TOO RRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMBBLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE!!"
*Does a little Viking dance*

Ooohh, and just to ice the cake here... Ivory, $30, and a world map got the Arabians in on my side too. Muahahaha!


1010AD -- Sissies

Aw, its only 3 turns into the war and i've already slaughtered half of their "invasion force" (killed 2 horsemen, some warriors, a few archers, and a medival infantry or two so far). The other half looks like its either regrouping, or turning and running.
Meanwhile i'm sending an attacking force through the back route I mentioned in a previous entry. I'll probably have another update for you then ;)


1030AD -- Come get some!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0048.jpg

AHAHAHAH!

The English think they can Blackmail me? You know what I say?
BRING IT ON!!!


1040AD -- Thing 1 and Thing 2

Attacking the English:
3 musketmen, 5 berzerks, 5 catapults

Attacking the Otts:
9 pikemen, 5 med infantry, 11 berzerks, 1 knight

With many, many more on the way :)


1060AD -- Reading falls

Reading fell to ONE berzerker. Hehe. I thought about abandoning it, but I think i'll just keep it.
Meanwhile, both my armies are lining up outside enemy cities. This is gonna be FUN.


1070AD -- Kafa

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0049.jpg

Kafa is mine. Cost: 1 Berzerk.


1080AD -- English fighters

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0050.jpg

Huh. The English are actually putting up a fight! Imagine that. Nottingham is going to be a tough nut to crack. I have 5 catapults attacking it, but they aren't doing a whole lot. I might just have to throw Berserkers at it for a while.
Funny though, the English are counter attacking me (or trying) with a nice little force:
5 archers, 3 swordsmen, and a spearmen (so far). Not that I care. I'm cranking out all sorts of military units at a crazy pace.. I don't think they have a hope of sacking Mournlock.


1090AD -- Nottingham

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0051.jpg

What can I say?
How about....

*YOINK!*

;)


1140AD -- Healfdene and Peace

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0052.jpg

Hey! Whaddya know, I FINALLY got a leader. Finally I can grab a wonder! (Its about friggin time). Funny thing too, it was a Berzerker defending against an archer that won! Hah!

Anyways, this turn the Ottomen came to me looking for peace. I said no, took Adena (shortly after the screenshot), then went back to them and asked for peace. I only got two techs and $70 for it, but personally i'd rather focus on one civ at a time. So that means the English get beats first, then i'll take two of Indias far flung colonies, and maybe after that it'll be the Ottomen's turn again. We'll see.

There is bad news on this turn though, and thats that i've severely fallen behind in techs. Other civs have got stuff like Music Theory, Astronomy, Chemistry, Banking, Ecenomics, and god knows what else.



1150AD -- Coventry

Coventry is mine, I sacked it with a half dozen knights (lost one)


1180AD -- Norwich

Norwich is mine too, except I sacked it with med infantry (and yes, I lost one) :P


1190AD -- Party's over

Aw, no more golden age :(
Oh well, i've made good inroads so far. I should be able to strike at Dover and Brighton soon, and with a little luck, then go for London.
The good news is that i'm starting to starve the English of resources. I took their horses with Nottingham, and I slashed their Iron road shortly after taking Coventry. They still have saltpeter near Warwick though. But at least now they'll have trouble replenishing their offensive units (knights).


1200AD -- Dover

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0053.jpg

Yup, Dover is mine now too!
In this shot, the 6 cities you can see are all the spoils of war. And who said war was hell?


1240AD -- Brighton

Got Brighton now too. No more Iron for the English!


1260AD -- Indiots after all

The Indians just ran in and declared war on me! WTF?

Oh well, now I have an excuse to take out their crappy little outposts.



1275AD -- London bridge is...

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0054.jpg

Falling down!
YAY! I took London! Hahahaha!
Its funny too... the Indians tried to come in with a rescue force of archers, but the only thing they did was serve as a giant scratching post for my Berserkers. Seriously, I got like 5 Elites by ripping them apart! WHEE!!

I am starting to doubt how much longer I can continue this war however. Obviously the English and Indians are at war with me. But the Ottomen have embargo'd me, the Arabians aren't happy, and theres a stupid Roman Caravel off my north shore. I'll have to be careful not to get in too deep here.


1285AD -- According to plan...

Ah yes, things are actually working out well for a change. The Indians are posing virtually no threat (do they even have Iron or Horses yet?), the English are crumbling like bread between my fingers, and the Romans have turned their ship(s) around and gone home. Meanwhile the Arabians continue to beat up the "you suck i'm gonna embargo you" Ottoman sissies.
[Mr.Burns]Eeeexcellent.[/Mr.Burns]
I'm just closing in on Canterbury and Warwick right now. I think those are the last two English cities i'll take. Their other three aren't much of a threat (they're buried in the friggin jungle), and i've got some BIG demands for peace from them. Too bad this game doesn't let you demand someones testicles on a silver plate. Now THATS something I could proudly display in my Palace!


1290AD -- My plan sucks

Holy sh*t. This is like a bad joke: "You know you're behind in tech when..." When 7 other civs are into the Industrial age, and you still have 12 unresearched middle age techs.
YIKES I am *majorly* behind here. I think its time to finish up this fighting and get back into THE game!


1300AD -- DONE!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/MD1CIV0055.jpg

Whew! I did it! I had to sacrifice a lot of troops (I lost about 6 guys attacking one city), but I did it! I managed to take Dacca, Punjab, Canterbury, and Warwick. WHEW! Now its time to end this crap!

Lets see... ugh, these AIs are rough. All I can get is Music Theory, Banking, and Navigation. What I REALLY need is Chemistry, but no one wants to even trade for it. *Sigh*


Anyways, i'm gonna end here for now, since i've got a million other things to do. Plus it'll give me (and you helpful forumites!) time to think up a plan as to how I can get back into the tech race, and QUICKLY!



Nightly Stats:
Scandinavia - Monarchy (5.3.2)
1305AD 691 gold (+6 per turn)
Chemistry (16 turns)

Scores:
Babylon: 1613
Rome: 1182
Egypt: 1180
Zululand: 1073
Scandinavia: 961
India: 894:
Ottomans: 866
Arabia: 834
Mongols: 795
England: 637
Carthage: 493
Spain (dead): 192

Nice Job on the war :goodjob:

Im glad you captured Reading, not razed it ;) *nods at member title*
A lot of people around here act like Vikings anyway :p

Really good stuff. :thanx: for your time and effort. Good to read
from some others besides the "experts".
:goodjob:

I say beat the crap out of anyone who's smarter than you. Steal their glasses, give them swirlies, and force them to give you their techs.

By the way, what victory condition are you aiming for?

Victory condition?
Well my culture is negligible, my tech (at the moment) is pathetic, i'm not leading the scoreboard, and most of the AI is cranky with me...

Looks like i'm gonna have to nuke everyone. :o

It's only the middle ages. Once you hit industrial, you'll probably soar ahead of the AI, building factories while they research free artistry and music theory. ;)

Nice campaign against the English - well done! :D

It seems to me that you need to contact the AIs more often, and trade techs, as to not fall behind too much. It wastes a lot of time, but it's worth it. If you look in the Customization forums, you will find a program that runs externally of Civ3, which shows you what the other AIs has to offer you every turn - so you don't have to contact all of them all the time :)

I see you sold all your contacts of the civs at your home continent once you've met the mongols/babylonian continent. I think it would be wiser to be the only one who knows about that continent. That way, there are less rivals who are able to buy luxuries from the foreign continent.

But i'm not an expert :S

Thanks for the great read! One caution -- if you made peace w/ Ottoman before your 20-turn alliance was up w/ Arabians against them, your rep may have taken a hit and it will be hard to get techs. You probably have to keep winning them thru wars now (which you seem more than capable of doing!). Babs look scary and biggest threat to reach a victory condition first since they can just sit far away from you and build. Getting wars going on that other continent would be good to slow them and Egypt down. Rome is probably your biggest short term goal, though, since they are on your continent and have really jumped in score (and you owe them big time!). India looks like easy pickin's, but you'll have to take out Ottomans first. Then you should have enough power to take on Rome. Get a lot of canons going to reduce those big Ottoman cities. Should be a fun game for you, lots o' butt kicking to do!

I see you sold all your contacts of the civs at your home continent once you've met the mongols/babylonian continent. I think it would be wiser to be the only one who knows about that continent. That way, there are less rivals who are able to buy luxuries from the foreign continent.

Good point, however, seeing as the other nations would soon have Navigation (is that the right tech? lol), they would've found the continent on their own - resulting in no income for the discovery for MachDelta. It might be a smart move to do as you say - but it's damn risky :)

jup, that's the risk you have to take
but in a current game, Zulus, Chinese and Americans are sitting on a small island. I'm buying their luxuries for techs like polytheism or map making while i'm in the late medieval, early industrial age :)

But, MD, keep on writing, i like your story. Wanna see how you are recovering from the science uppercut cuz i have much the same probs :)

Thanks for all the encouragement guys :) I actually took a short break from this game to play a new one (lower difficulty level, diff civ, etc) because I was getting a little discouraged. That, and I wanted to learn how to wage war more efficiently with the AI :p. So I should be back to this one in a day or two, to see if I can recover from this tech deficit. I think if I can get steam (railroads) and communism (I've learned its a GREAT govt to wage war in from my other game), I should be able to take out the Ottomen. I'll make a stack of defensive units to railroad around and protect my cities, and then mobilize my economy (Communism + Mobilization = stupidly powerful military) to crank out cannons and berzerkers. I should be able to take out the Ottomen with pure numbers, since they'll be getting Infantry soon. Once i've done that, I should have a world monopoly on Ivory (I think). Maybe I can trade for some techs then, or just continue my campaign against the Indians and Arabs. But thats a long way off yet :)

Oh, and for the record, yeah I traded contacts with the AI because some of the other civs already had navigation (IIRC). I'm still learning how to best negotiate with the AI too, excuse my newbieness ;)

Again, thanks guys!

Noooo don't stop the story!! Ah well, a few days I can wait I guess :p

Anyway, MD, check your PMs, it's urgent! :)

Keep this one going, I'm much too interested in it!

You got lucky with the Vikings. Beserks still have the best attack you're going to get until tanks, so your offense is fine. I'm enjoying this story a lot!

yes, keep on going !

hey quite nice story :D Hopes there comes more soon :)

awsome story. please keep writing, im hooked

Argh, everyone wants me to continue, but i'm dreading firing up that particular game again :p
I did a test domination in another game (as mentioned), but even as the big kahuna of that world, I was having a hell of a time actually taking down every civilization. Why? Corruption. Corruption and Communism don't mix. Democracy (or maybe Monarch/Republic) is the only way to hold a huge chunk of the world and still be productive. The stupid thing is, a Democracy (or whatever) of 80 cities won't be any more productive than a democracy of 40 cities, since both civs will have the same sized productive "core". Beyond a certain point, extra cities outside your Palace/FP's radius are just there to hold territory. So whats the point to conquest or domination? You'll be limited (or even penalized, in the case of communism) for holding too much territory. That only leaves the other victory conditions (space, culture, points, diplo) as viable goals for a 5th rank civ - which i'm in almost no position to go after in my current state.

Basically what i'm saying is - i'm friggin lost, and don't know how I can possibly win this game anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions? (Think I should try for a Monarchy domination instead of a Communistic one? ;)). Help! :p

I always play Monarchy. I find that Republic costs too much money, Democracy REALLY costs too much money, and the rest are just not very good. After experimenting with different governments, I find that for me at least, Monarchy is best.

Well, after you go over the optimal number of cities per map, your corruption will skyrocket-- even in your core. If you're curious:

Optimal Number of Cities (Per Map Size):
Tiny: 14
Small: 17
Standard:20
Large: 28
Huge: 36

Well, try this. Maximise food production everywhere in the corrupt cities, and turn extra laborers into tax collectors/scientists/civil engineers. That'll allow you to be more productive than just 1 shield and 1 gold.

Don't give up MD...we're all looking forward to see you get your butt kicked...err, I mean kick some Roman butt! :p

Have you given up :(? I hope not. This was a great story.

Yeah I think its pretty much toast. I did get it running in C3C now, but trying to keep my backwards "empire" together is such a pain in the ass, it just gets frustrating after a few turns. So I doubt i'll ever finish this story, sorry guys :(

I did have lots of fun writing it though, so maybe i'll start a new (C3C) story some day. Hopefully one where I do a little better than getting discouraged and quitting too :p

Again, my apologies, but im not real motivated to start this mess up again :(

Come on. dude, there is no way your lost yet. Focus on the short term goal of kicking butt with the Indians and Ottos, once thats done look to the Romans. Don't worry about the other continent until you own yours. The babs won't look so big and scarry when you dominate a whole continent. Besides, we miss your writing style...

I'm just so depressed by the tech situation right now :(. I'm seriously like half an age behind the other civs (except maybe India), its sick. They're all starting to get Infantry and i'm busy researching Steam Power! I just don't know how to come back from a defecit like that. I can't research it by myself, and pointy stick style research is just going to get slow and painful as the rails and infantry start appearing everywhere. I know for sure I could take a war to the Otto's and win - not only is my army stronger than theirs (even though most of it is near the Romans), but I could get in on a dogpile with the Indians (who are stronger than me) and Arabs if I signed some MPPs. Even with Sipahi, the Ottomen would be in for a world of hurt. But what then? I get maybe three or four techs from them at best. Then who's next? India is pretty strong, and would only gain more from an Ottoman dogpile. Arabia has almost no tech over me, the Romans would hand me my ass on a silver platter, and the rest of the world is a continent away. I'd have to go mega stupid heavy on the artillery or bombers to start winning wars, but I don't have the cash to support huge armies because this stupid PTW corruption model is absolutely brutal! I'd go for Democracy, but thats not a great war govt (especially since the AI is almost done Universal Suff.). Communism blows once you're over the optimal city limit (which I probably am). I didn't even know you couldn't move FP's when I built mine too - in a dumb costal location. *Sigh*

I guess I could give it another shot, but i'm really thinking this is going to wind up as a long, drawn out Cultural victory for the babs, or at least a spaceship victory for them (or possibly Egypt or Rome). I really enjoyed writing and taking pictures though, so the very least I can promise is another story :). But i'll really need a miracle (or a powerbar :p) if i'm going to fix this mess I made. It isn't a "Newbs first story" for nothing I guess. :lol:

Before you get depressed, look at this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=77319). The human is about an entire age behind, and not very developed while the AI are building railroads. True it is on Regent, but you aren't as far behind.

edit: grah, I was looking through the thread w/ all the total stories, and accidentally bumped a 3-year-old story.

My bad, my bad, my bad.