Wrath of the AI

uh, you are building cathedrals ?
Spoiler :


Never found any use for anything above temple, I do build temples once my cities start growing above size 8 and I have few lux'es(1-3). I find luxury slider to be much easier to play with and for lone *huge* city, specialists are way to go, sometimes by adding one science specialist, I can drop science rate and gain 2-10 extra gold per turn...

Against cavalry, can they move in jungle?

You also got quite a few defenders, I prefer having 2 per town, with 2-3 being "mobile", able to reforce ~4 towns around them.. However you got cavalry to fight with... You cannot win fights with only defenders, is making MI stack, combined with 3-5 spears and attacking some enemy towns, impossible (I dont know if it is). Taking enemy town, even one is huge hit to 'em.

I admit I'm not that versed in luxury-slider usage; even though I use it more now than I used to, I still probably don't as often as I should. At the present moment I'm totally broke, so anything above 0% science and 0% luxuries is impossible. It's partly the tendency to want to put the science slider as high as possible, as well. Once my economy is back on track in a few centuries, I'll look into luxury-sliding a bit. Certainly could use the happiness points. OTOH, I also need the science rate to be as high as possible if I'm ever going to catch these Talented.

The Cavalry cannot move in Jungles, unless there are roads/railroads. Hence how their Cavalry got to my borders - they've roaded the Big Jungle. Fortunately, they also pillaged the last road leading to my town because it was within my borders. So I shouldn't have many Cavalry to deal with, at least in the north.

I do have a lot of defenders; there are some MI under some of those defenders as well. The problem with MI is that they've got Musketmen and increasingly Riflemen guarding their stacks, so I'll need lots of MI to be able to get to their attackers. Whereas Pikemen behind fortifications can deal with all their attackers (except the few Cavalry), and are cheaper as well. They don't allow me to actively defend as well, but the number of Talented units, especially Musketmen/Riflemen, makes fighting a defensive war with Medieval Infantry a pretty hopeless endeavour at this point. Even if I had invested more in MI earlier and had more now, I'd quickly use them up trying to hold off the Talented hordes. It may not look like that much now, but just wait until Parts Sixteen and Seventeen. There are a lot of Talented troops.

As to defender distribution, a large amount are on or approaching the front. A few are on military police duty, but where I don't need military police I generally only have one per town (the exceptions being if it looks like a Talented naval landing force might come ashore near a town, and a couple of my southern border towns). And as for attacking an enemy town, that idea did occur to me at some point. Obviously it would have to go more successfully than my last foray into their territory did, but, despite the overwhelming number of Talented troops, that does look like a possibility.

This is what I meant by turning your economy into a war making machine. :mischief:

Well, there it is! Unfortunately I couldn't keep it as a war-making machine the whole time due to the humunguous unit support.
 
This game is awesome. Holy crap, the Talented are horribly powerful. Unless you somehow manage to form a alliance strong enough to invade and crush them, they ARE going to tech to the modern age and kill everyone with their absurd tech superiority. You need to assume offensive as fast as possible or they will win, methinks.
 
I learned using lux slider in early game, when you got 5-7 cities, it gives huge effect. 2-3 GPT into lux slider can actually save 5-10 gold or give faster growth of town. Later in game I look if several cities are unhappy then I tweak slider up a 10%. I find wasting 7 GPT onto slider is better than 12 gpt onto temples +lost shields.

Like I before state, I'm monarch/Emperor player and I don't MM too much(if I can get last turn shields faster, why not, if I can get town grow faster then produce more shields, why not but not in detail MM).
 
The Aviators

The Aviators are masters of the sky. They receive Flight for free once they have Mass Production, build better planes than their opponents, and receive a free Bomber every five turns once they have Flight.

Good for the end game, but too weak for the rest.

Suggestions:
1º What about giving them a unique "Baloon" unit that can fly (slowly) and transport? This way, they can fly from the early game. And the baloon-making technique is secrete, that's why no one else can make baloons, although it should be possible to capture defense-less baloons from the aviators.

2º Fuse the Wealthy and the Commercial. Or give a additional advantage to the wealthy. As it is, they look like perfect targets and that's that.
 
Doesn't the F7 screen say which city as well as which civ is building a wonder? I thought it did in vanilla... of course, I could easily be mistaken...
 
Doesn't the F7 screen say which city as well as which civ is building a wonder? I thought it did in vanilla... of course, I could easily be mistaken...

Indeed it do.

Assuming the city/civ is known, of course... might need maps?

The F7 screen does say which city is building the wonder in if you know the civilization, but in order to investigate the city with your embassy and see what their progress on the wonder is, you have to know where the city is.
 
Quintillius said:
Aviation is hopeless now, I see - a pretty accurate statement in 950 B.C.

:lol: Guess Icarus and Daedalus are having trouble getting their contraption off the ground.

Interesting story so far... You need to get more Artillery into play though... That comes from my experience in the AoI scenario playing as the Boers (one of the weakest civs in the scenario): Yes, even the British COLONIAL units may have been, for the most part, better than mine, but when I have about 50 75mm Krupp mountain guns backing up my stack of 7-10 Boer Commandos, that slight statistical advantage kind of goes out the window....
 
Agreed, the only way to routinely defeat superior units is lots of artillery. Too bad you can't get the AI to build many to be captured, saving support costs. At this point, you may have to forget traditional research and take up the pointy-stick method to maintain a large enough military to survive.
 
Agreed, the only way to routinely defeat superior units is lots of artillery. Too bad you can't get the AI to build many to be captured, saving support costs. At this point, you may have to forget traditional research and take up the pointy-stick method to maintain a large enough military to survive.

hehe too bad there isn't a civ based on the Koreans that has a +1 marked on artillery production. You could call them the "Howitzers" :D
 
When will we see some more of this great story?

Probably in May. The rest of April is the end of the semester, and there is no time for Civ for me right now. At this point I really don't see any opportunity to play Civ/finish up the next section before May 1 even in a best-case scenario. Once May comes I'll have plenty of time, but now, coursework is taking up all my time.
 
Probably in May. The rest of April is the end of the semester, and there is no time for Civ for me right now. At this point I really don't see any opportunity to play Civ/finish up the next section before May 1 even in a best-case scenario. Once May comes I'll have plenty of time, but now, coursework is taking up all my time.

Okay, thanks! I figured maybe it was something like that. Good luck with the coursework. :)
 
During the last section, the war with the Talented continued, but was mostly phony. They took a few northern Commercial cities, but there was little action on my borders. Nevertheless, the tidings looked ominous, as they obviously had far superior numbers and better technology.

Now it is the year 1230, and it is still quiet in the north. My Trebuchets are serving me quite well, and redline the only Talented troops near Phoenix.



After that, they're easy pickings.

The Commercial galleys receive the ire of the Talented in 1235.



Two are lost; the Commercial seem to want to land troops somewhere down south. Hopefully that'll be on the militarist island - they could afford to burn a few troops fighting off an invasion.

But on land, the Talented, if anything, retreat in 1235. They're going all out for the northern Naval cities.

My new allies the Sailors come to my aid as well, helping me defend Oar.



By 1240, unit support is bankrupting me, so I begin an expedition towards Jungle Town. It'll be costly to retake it, but I almost need to lose some troops now.

The Talented start south again in 1250; they have taken the two Naval cities up north. Fortunately the Commercial are nearing my northern border now as well, so I'll have allies to fight them off with.



Interesting. The Frisky are none too popular these days. Perhaps the other civilizations seek to avoid overpopulation problems.



Also in 1252. An end to a pointless war.

The Talented land their troops near my city of Coastal Cove in 1252; my allies help me against their landing party.



The Commercial kill no one, but injure the Musketman. I hurry some Medieval Infantry in Coastal Cove and Tobacco Junction, and should be able to defeat enough of the troops to avoid a crisis.



Unfortunately, my troops fight like they usually do, and only manage to kill one unit despite three attacks. Bleh. I am forced to upgrade Coastal Cove's guard despite not really being able to afford to. I sell a couple unnecessary walls to make up the difference.

The first Talented-Commercial combat in the jungle occurs in 1257.



The Commercial Spearman loses. I expect the combat to escalate quickly, but first I receive this notice.



Geez. They never do seem to do very well. Too bad, because they would probably be quite powerful if they survived until the Industrial Age. I may have to tweak their bonuses a bit.



Clearly, frisky is not the way to be today.

Now that combat has begun in the north, it escalates quickly, as expected.



The results are about even this round. But I fear they may not be too much longer.



:eek: That's a lot of troops coming south :(. Far more than I can likely fight off. Good thing it's not at my gates yet.

But that impending doom won't prevent me from retaking Jungle Town. I send a 44-unit stack to it in 1260.



With a -29 GPT defecit at 0% science, I unfortunately need to lose a few units. This ought to do the trick. By now I'm actually hoping my allies will betray me and make peace to improve the financial situation.

In yet another unfortunate event, sure enough, the Univerasalists and Frisky had a MPP. So my invasion caused this.





Well, only the second one was caused by my invasion. But it's still very bad news - civil disorder now reigns supreme thanks to the lack of luxuries.

Or so I think. Somehow, my export deals are still going. Turns out it's just war weariness setting in. Surely, then, the Talented are also having war weariness problems. At least they'd better be!

My advance did garner a considerable movement of Universalist troops towards the east. None reached my stack, however, so I am able to begin in earnest with my trebuchets in 1265.



They only take off two hitpoints; I need cannons now. So I send in my front-line infantry.



And redline the first Rifleman! An excellent start! I then switch to Swordsmen, needing to lose a few units before I take this city!



Well, not lose that brilliantly!



Six Swordsmen take off four hitpoints and give them a leader. But despite making the Gallipoli campaign look like an ordinary loss rather than a complete disaster, they've done well enough. The Medieval Infantry should be able to finish them off now.



:woohoo: Only one more Medieval Infantry died, and the city was captured! The only bad thing is that I still don't have enough cash to pay maintenance. Jungle Town's Walls and Harbor are scrapped as a result.



Jungle combat continues, and while the Commercial take out a few guys, they also manage to give the Talented yet another leader :rolleyes:. I, once again, do not come under attack. So in 1270, I pillage the road leading to Jungle Town.



I am much pleased in 1270 to find that the Talented have descended into Anarchy! Unfortunately, they'll only be in it for one turn since they're religious, but it's still a good sign!
 
Jungle war keeps up in 1272. Thankfully, the Commercial kill the leader they helped spawn.



But the Talented are advancing even with their Warriors :(.



In 1277, the Urban-Utopian war comes to an end.



I do not know who won. But it's good for them to not be fighting. Now if only the Militarists or Innovators would make peace with the Talented and let me make peace early without breaking any alliances!

By 1280, I am making money at 0% science, but the Talented have so many troops they are going on the offensive with Musketmen. They have finally reached the gates of Phoenix, and I am forced to pull back my advance troops into the city to be sure it won't fall.



I have 23 troops in the city - certainly enough that it shouldn't fall.

Jungle Town meets its demise in 1280. The chance of flipping was simply too high, so I decided to send out a Settler from Thunderfall instead.



That also cleared up 29 units to head west - which may prove a very important move.


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I lose one battle and win one battle at Phoenix in 1282. The big battle will come in 1287. They have 25 offensive units ready in 1285, to my 19 defensive units.



I pull in all the units from the nearby Barricades to get an extra couple units. I'll fight this battle for one turn - after that, peacemaking and dealbreaking may be necessary.



Never the ones who have an alliance with me, eh? Oh well. :(



In other words, do you really want to fight this battle? Because we don't feel like it.



I'm tempted. But I decide they need their nose bloodied, and I need to lose some units. So I tell them to send their troops to their deaths.



So they attack my reinforcements.



But they never attack Phoenix. Instead they move even insanely more troops into position. I count 32 first-rate attackers in 1290, plus four Archers and an ungodly number of defensive troops.



I bombard, increase the number of entertainers in my cities in response to skyrocketing war weariness, and let my turn end. But not before founding a new city to replace Jungle Town.



Auckland will be in a dangerous position long-term, but with barricades it should be able to withstand the next inevitable Talented onslaught. But right now their troops are directed at Phoenix.















Nowhere near the full force of Talented troops that could have attacked Phoenix do attack. A few attack nearby Commercial units; more appear to be repositioning to move towards Auckland. But they do throw 10 units into the fray, and all ten, including two Crusaders and a Rifleman, are killed, with no losses on my side. I could probably endure another turn of battle here, if only it weren't for this:



Western Shore can't defend itself. Although 95% of their offensive is Musketmen, it's simply way too many Musketmen. So I'll have to make peace this turn. But I still have way too many units. So I attack the Talented a bit first.



It costs me 7 Medieval Infantry to take out a stack of 8 Talented units. Oddly, I lose 5 of the 7 to Medieval Infantry, 1 to a Longbow, and just one to their Musketmen. I guess the RNG hopes to assert the "random" part of its name.

My next attack is to the north of Phoenix.



I lose three units to take out two Musketmen. Good thing half the point was losing units. I then attack a random Rifleman down south.



And win. Could be worse, I suppose. I'm still 22 units over unit support, though, which is a problem. But I decide rather than throwing them away in a hopeless offensive, I'll make peace and disband them for shields if that looks like the best path. So I cancel as many as my alliances as I can, and go to the peace table.



Favorable terms! I agree, break my remaining alliances, and am able to set my research to 50% thanks to no longer spending so much gold on alliances. Now no one is anything better than Annoyed with me, but me populace is much happier! I then go on a disbanding spree that cuts my unit support down to a livable 18 GPT. And so the 14th century will begin with us once more on the rise.
 
With peace for myself now secured, it is time for me to rebuild and the other civilizations to avert their doom.



Excellent. I'd been hoping the Commercial would be sensible and not ruin themselves in a useless war. Now we can be allies again!

Taking a look at the demographics in 1300, I am surprised to see that it isn't enitrely an ugly picture. I've moved up to third in land area, probably due to culture and retaking Jungle Town - but certainly not something I expected. Corruption has also fallen to 15.4% thanks to some new courthouses, and my score is once more better than half that of the Talented. And that's with very little progress in the past century. If I can ever have lasting peace, I might thrive.

But peace is necessary! There's a lot of Talented units in my territory!



207 of them in all! More than I can fight off!

I disband a few more units this turn to get my unit support down to zero, set science to 70%, and am redy for a prosperous peace. Now if only I get it.

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The poor Militarists. At least they've got 14 million Archers to defend themselves. I don't think they're in any serious danger yet. Even so I'd like it if they at least got to the point of having Keshiks.





Peace and war. The Commercial are close enough to the Militarists that they'll surely have some skirmishes.

It is only in 1310 that I remember that I'd been planning to build JS Bach's Cathedral. Amazingly no one has built it yet. Bright Future resumes its palace prebuild - I may get it yet!

I make peace with the Frisky in 1310, ending my last war.





Uh-oh... maybe the Militarists are in trouble. Perhaps the Riflemen were too much for their Archers. Oh well. They'll have to save themselves.



Education is completed in 1315 AD. Music Theory will come next.



Gee, looks like the Urban are in for some war. Good thing they're in better shape than the Militarists, who have now lost the city of Hardship as well.

But good tidings come in 1330 - the Militarists have retaken both of their lost cities!



I hope that they don't lose them again, but judging by the number of Talented convoys I'm seeing, I suspect they'll keep on getting invaded.



Well, so much for the Urban invading the Talented. Once the Dromons arrive, they aren't going anywhere by sea.



The Militarists are saved in 1342. Now they can save their Archers for fighting off other invasions, which I'm sure they'll have to eventually. But I'm glad they haven't been destroyed. But the Innovators, as I'm alarmed to discover in 1355, are being destroyed by the Talented.



:eek: They're really in trouble. Unfortunately there's really not much I can do to help them.



The Frisky, it seems, have decided to side with the Talented. At least it's not against me this time. But someday they'll pay for it.

The Utopians and Militarists make peace in 1357, as do the Scientists with both the Militarists and Frisky. It looks like the wars are toning down on the whole.



How alchemists discover Music Theory I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining. Bright Future sets to work on JS Bach's Cathedral with 23 turns to go, while I begin researching The Republic.



So much for wars toning down. The Innovators are essentially done for.



Or not. Talk about the Talented making no sense :crazyeye:.

Our civilizations progress continued in 1365 with the opening of the University of Thunderfall, the first Intelligent university. Several other cities finish universities in the following turns.

The Seafaring and Frisky make peace in 1372, as do the Talented and Urban. It doesn't look like any side made any progress in either war.

Despite the skills of the Seafaring Dromons, by the late 14th century the seas are increasingly being ruled by Talented Pirates. This is an even worse situation - they'll attack anybody. Truly the Talented have become a curse on the rest of humanity.

I complete The Republic in 1390 and immediately start a revolution; Feudalism just isn't worth it anymore. The military support situation keeps getting worse, and a commerce bonus would be really nice. So Republic it shall be after...



...two turns of Anarchy! An excellent draw! And only three cities go into civil disorder without military police. The time was indeed ripe for a revolution.



The Utopians get a bit aggressive in 1397 and demand Education. Although I'd rather not give it to them, I accede to ensure peace - the last thing I need now is war with anyone, especially someone who might buy in allies. At least it was the slightly backwards Utopians who came demanding.

The success of the switch to Republic exceeds my wildest expectations. Just the initial boost in the surplus is incredible.



And that's much faster research, too - from 12 to 8 turns at 50%. Overall, the GNP increased by 61%! Although population and industry fell a bit from the anarchy, it certainly was a worthwhile switch. I still have military support costs, but they are lower, and I am much better able to afford them. With the faster research that I am able to afford now, I may be able to finally get to a place where I'm not totally in beyond my head against the Talented. I've also managed to reach second place of the civilizations I know, pulling ahead of the Commercial. So while it's been a very rough first half of the game, there is hope that the second half will go considerably better.
 
Glad to see an update Quint.
 
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