King of the World #6: Huayna Capac

... still would be a comfort to build that navy I recommended a few turnsets ago.

AndrewN said:

I have had a look at the position and I am not concerned about Neal's position now. Unlike last time, he has a huge tech advantage and most of his cities are producing loads of hammers. Levee's and Universal Suffrage gives even the most cottaged city a reasonable production.

If I read r_rolo's screenshot correctly the best unit Qin has is a Knight, against Tanks and Marines they are pretty ineffectual. Most of the cities have Infantry or Marine defenders and Neal is sitting on a huge cash stockpile and making a profit at 80% research. If necessary, in a few turns he could buy an army that could defeat the world.

IMO the game is in the bag, who's next?

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Qin has rifles, MGs and probably arties IIRC in the save .

I'm not worried that neal loses the war... but without warning he could lose a city or two. Not the end of the world but not nice.

And Neal could even give the military some work by capturing the Australian China Just for fun

Building a bunch of bombers, as well as building some paratroopers, and stationing them around SA will make any AI incursion a doomed failure. Strike the stack with bombers, then move in paratroopers to the target city. Such a defence wouldn't be bothered by the Andes, and paratroopers, with the right promotions, are excellent defenders.

r_rolo1 said:

Qin has rifles, MGs and probably arties IIRC in the save .

I'm not worried that neal loses the war... but without warning he could lose a city or two. Not the end of the world but not nice.

And Neal could even give the military some work by capturing the Australian China Just for fun

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If Qin has all that why does the picture show Knights? Still, the loss of a coastal city or two will not make much difference to the game. There might be more problems soon when the AI's get Marines (does the AI use Marines properly?)

Don't get me wrong, I think Neal has neglected his military all game and it is just luck nothing nasty has happened so far. At a higher level he might not have been so lucky.

Taking Australia will probably make the winning date later then not, the cost of all those units and the extra cost of some noncontinental cities will slow research down.

I don't have the mod but doesn't the military adviser show what units Qin has that Neal doesn't have and vice versa. Meaning that Neal doesn't have knights but that Qin may well have rifles and stuff that's not on the list of Neal's advantages.

^^Exactly. Qin can make knights and neal can't: that is why they appear in Qin strategic advantages. Now the real issue is what it doesn't appear in the Neal's strategid advantages column: It appears SAMs and Infantry , so Qin should be able to make rifles. MGs don't appear and artilery either ( atleast on the screenie ), so qin should have them too.

Whew! Just finished the game. You were right about a Final War, rolo... But it wasn't with China.

*DUN DUN DUNNNNN*

I need a break. I'll write it up sometime tonight.

Neal said:

Whew! Just finished the game. You were right about a Final War, rolo... But it wasn't with China.

*DUN DUN DUNNNNN*

I need a break. I'll write it up sometime tonight.

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Suspense, I love it

Can we open a book on who declared war? Put me down for Germany

I would also guess Germany -- coastal, powerful, and you pissed them off by canceling trade with them.

In this final round, I learned to quit worrying and live without seafood.

It all started with my succumbing to the siren call of peace:



After all, builder games are boring, and nothing drags a game out and prolongs the inevitable like war. I wanted to get things over with so that I could, well, war on my own terms.

I even made a deal with the always-useful Mansa Musa:



I thought we were done with him. We don't need Mass Media, but Hollywood and the U.N. are always nice to have.

In 1859, we suffered the gods' wrath for taking the easy way out:



*sigh* I guess the world will have to wait for the glitz and glamour of Salvador. Getting the Harbor and Observatory (to reactivate the Laboratory) back up and running took precedence.

In 1861, the Incan people built the United Nations, showing that universal peace and world government were possiblities, and that everyone should just back off while we finished our spaceship and shot for the stars.

Apparently, the Chinese didn't get the memo:



Despite all my precautions, r_rolo1 was right... Hell hath no fury like an Asian superpower scorned.

Needless to say, my elaborate web of Defensive Pacts (Montezuma, Saladin, and Asoka), combined with China's vast network of vassals made this a war for the ages:



Everyone was involved except for those scheming Germans (a bit of foreshadowing there!).

I had scouted the Pacific with my pair of Destroyers (the S.S. Huayna and the S.S. Capac), but I didn't see anything. Apparently, the captains of my pair of Destroyers are idiots:



China and its slave-states sent over fleets of Destroyers, Frigates, and... empty Transports. All right, Qin, you win- My seafood is toast. Luckily for Montezuma, all those obsolete Aztec ships floating around in the Caribbean finally had something to do. Die, mostly, but they took more than a few state-of-the-art Chinese warships with them.

As the seas ran black and red with oil and blood, the South American interior worked feverishly to send the Incan people in the one direction the Chinese could not follow: up. With the Apollo Program finished in Salvador right after Hollywood, industrial cities across the continent began building casings, thrusters, and engines for the project. Brasilia, meanwhile, supplied the power:



This was mostly a Health move, as most of my cities with Factories already had Coal Plants.

Suddenly, in 1865, we were given a reprieve:



I... guess the Chinese helped out a wounded sailor? There haven't been any land battles. *shrug* Fine, whatever. I'm tired of chasing your crappy ships around Cape Horn. Let's get this over with.

Thanks to a couple of decent rolls on Great People and the free Engineer from Fusion, I was able to give my empire one last nitrous boost in the form of a final Golden Age:



This Golden Age was nice, but hardly a showstopper. Its most important development happened where else but in Salvador:



A little late for the Space Elevator, but it helped, effectively continuing the Golden Age for those cities that were contributing directly to the ship.

So the Incan people enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity while the rest of the world burned. The Arabs, especially, were having a rough time of it:



Hey, Sally, uh, sorry for sucking you into that Defensive Pact. You, um, weren't really needed.

And, yes, it was pretty obvious. The Final War was declared by.... Frederick!



All right, fine. Bring it. Go ahead and pilage my stupid work boats and-





I should have paid better attention in history class. Germany doesn't $%@* around when it comes to putting the proverbial smack down.

I upgraded troops, hit the stack with Bombers, and sent what reinforcements I could via rails and airports. I believe I did a fairly decent job:



That should last me a turn, after which I can bring in more reinforcements.

Sadly, that wasn't Germany's only stack:





If Frederick had used his Marines properly, I'm positive that Salvador or Paramaribo would have fallen. Possibly both. As it was, it took some scrambling, but I was able to fight off the ground troops.

Frederick, as acting pope, determined at this point that discretion was the better part of valor and offered a holy truce. Unfortunately...



Asoka!!!

Meanwhile, the Chinese, apparently not learning their lesson in courage and compassion from the heroic Seamen Yin and Yang, started rebuilding their war machines and demanding Gold to "keep the peace." I told Qin to eat Fallout and die. Apparently, he did, since nothing more ever came of it.

The Germans, meanwhile, were becoming most tiresome:



Their Aircraft were buzzing in and blowing up mines. I'm willing to concede Fish and Crabs, Frederick, but don't mess with my Iron.

Y'know what? Screw it. Do what you want. I'm out of here:



That's a little later than it could have been (I timed it poorly: the last piece finished a full five turns after the penultimate one), but who's counting?

In 1901, I was able to buy Frederick off for a military tech:



Joke's on you, Freddy! Sure, it's only 10 turns of peace, but I'm 9 turns from a win!

And, sure enough, nine turns later:







So we've won. Oh, one final screenshot. The Score chart:



... I'm really sorry, Saladin. You stood by me all game long, and I done got you killt.

So there you have it. I must say, a great final round for a fairly dull game.

So what did we learn? Uh, as the Inca, hit South America from the south, not the north. It's much easier that way. Montezuma's a pussycat if you treat him right. You can have a pitiful military, just don't expect to slip under the radar for long. Oh, and never underestimate a pissed-off Deutschland.

And for those of you who think I made all this up, the save:

Nice win, congrats, but you should add to your lesions - MILITARY. Even when you are isolated the AI can still cause grief. The pillaging of your fishing would be enough, but the AI can land a relatively incompetent invasion and at a higher level it could have been nasty. IIRC your ironworks city was costal.

I assume China went after Saladin as he would have been easier to get to, which may explain why you saw no units from Qin. The German invasion looked nasty. I hate taking on Panzers even with Modern Armour, its a 50:50 shot unless the Panzers are defending cities

Interesting ... this game really brings home the similarities between Monty, Mansa Musa, and Huayna on the earth 18 map. In all 3 you won a space race victory in a game marked by early tech deficit and late world war. In all 3 you used the unclaimed territory of South America to help power your economy for the win.

Ahh Germany, what will the world be like without your aggression? Anyways since you got Saladin killed i think you need to pay him back. I vote SALADIN next game!

Time to start another poll for who should be the next KOTW.

I'ld love to see Saladin too, his start's a mess, but at least it's in the centre of things.

Also, I'ld love to see some nukes.

has anyone tried khmer on one of the custom earth maps? its a really impossible start

Ultimocrat said:

Interesting ... this game really brings home the similarities between Monty, Mansa Musa, and Huayna on the earth 18 map. In all 3 you won a space race victory in a game marked by early tech deficit and late world war. In all 3 you used the unclaimed territory of South America to help power your economy for the win.

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Interesting finish. Agree with Ultimocrat on the similarities in the game. You did a great job clearing the jungles of the amazon and producing a true power. Instead of Saladin, it may be interesting to shift back to europa for a game with England, having to colonize the mainland. But would that be too much like your Japanese game?

If Frederick had used his Marines properly

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I'm pretty sure the 3.17 change to stop siege being used from ships has actually hurt the AI more than the human player ... I saw some pretty capable invasions in 3.13 (things like 4-6 cannon to soften up the city's riflemen, followed by 6-8 grens). I've never seen the AI use carrier-based, air-striking fighters as substitute siege.

Personally, the marine is rapidly becoming my favorite modern unit

Saladin FTW!

Earth 34 civs pl0x?