Wrath of the AI
- Thread starter Quintillus
- Start date
Yep. Makes it too easy against the AI. So the Commercial will stand a chance if they get Rifles.
Alexander of the Commercial
Galileo of Science
Shaka of Talent
Icarus of the Aviators
Romulus of the Urban
Saint Augustine of Utopia
Edison of Innovation
Prince Henry of Seafaring
Duke Sforza of Diplomacy
Athena of Defence
Gandhi of Honesty
Queen Marie Antoinette of the Cultured
Neptune of Hippophilia
Caesar of Governing
Khan Temujin of Military
Aphrodite of Friskiness
Only Gandhi, Alexander, and Shaka actually look like their namesames.
I'm a town?!? Awesome!
Yep! And a pretty well defended town at this point, too!
DJ Bonebraker
a.k.a Laura
at Edison being the leader of Innovation... All he was a leader of was ripping other inventors off... If you want a TRUE leader of Innovation, try Nikola Tesla. 
DoomOfRome
Chieftain
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2009
- Messages
- 6
I look forward to seeing the war turn out in your favor (hopefully).
The Urban and Scientists make peace in 1627, a mutually beneficial deal. The Urban-Utopian war is still going nowhere, though the border city of Kaifeng has shrunk from metropolis to size 11 city.
The Commercial send out Knight against Anchor in 1627.
Despite help from my Cannons, my Elite Cavalry falls. With Walls next turn and a healed Musketman, I hope they will not get away with that again. Generally, however, they shift their troops towards the location of the former Gunwale. My only Cavalry at that location comes under attack.
...and demolishes the offending Medieval Infantry.
In 1630, I make a map of my future city locations:
That'll take advantage of the currently underutilized Commercial land. But it'll require a lot of Settlers!
After hurrying a few Libraries, I move Pikemen and Cannons forward from Anchor to hammer away at the Commercial Musketmen and Medieval Infantry nearby.
My cannons put forth a decent showing, and the Musketmen are left with no more than two hitpoints apiece. From there my Cavalry and Medieval Infantry are able to make quick work of them.
Having finished off almost all of that stack, my remaining Cavalry begin attacking everyone else in the vicinity.
The stack northwest of the one I'd been targeting is destroyed, and a Settler captured. The Commercial take double-digit losses, and hopefully will be a bit less dangerous in the future.
To the west, one of my Cavalry attacks a Musketman-Settler pair it had Zone of Control'ed in 1627.
They are destroyed. The Commercial are spending all their shields on free workers for me.
The Utopians and Urban finally make peace in 1632. The Utopians had taken the city of Harvest from the Urban, which they had taken from the Frisky, but other than that, the war had just been a big drain of resources.
I lose the western Cavalry in the most recent screenshot and a Swordsman in the IBT, but the overall damage wrought by the Commercial is low. However, I notice a bad sign - they have Cavalry!!!
They still lack Nationalism, but it's a good thing I destroyed most of their Knights. My foreign advisor doesn't tell me of any deals they have to import Horses,and I still don't see any in their territory, so I don't know where they're getting Horses from. They're getting them somewhere though.
But that can be dealt with later. First comes the founding of two new cities. First, we establish CapnVonBaron's Esatte.
And then, on the old site of Pound, the city of Franc.
Can't let this area remain British!
Warfare continues on the western front.
The Commercial lose two Musketmen, a Cavalry, a Medeival Infantry, a Worker, and another Settler. My battles then move east.
By the end of the turn this is all that remains.
The Cannons are dishing out some ownage. Unfortunately two of my Cavalry got killed against the Musketmen in the east, but on the whole I still did well this turn. Most of the rest of my Cavalry rebase to Franc in preparation for next turn's attack.
During their turn the Commercial do nothing of note on land, but appear to be hoping to land some troops near Swampy Plantation by sea. Fortunately, my Sooth Sayers are preparing for just such an event.
Although I hadn't been planning to build a navy, it looks like a decent idea at this point. Frigates aren't that expensive. So I swich some of my eastern cities to them.
The other problem at this time is happiness. War weariness increased another notch, taking happiness down to 62% and causing five cities to riot. I decide to treat the symptoms rather than the problem and strike a deal to import Spices from the Scientists.
It's not a great deal, but helping the Scientists with technology is helping myself in the eventual war with the Talented. And it grants me a temporary reprieve in war weariness that the Commercial hopefully won't be able to afford. At this point, however, their Democracy still stands.
Looking around for trades, I happen upon a golden opportunity - the Urban are willing to tech me into the Industrial Age!
We strike the deal, I see that I am researching Nationalism, and I hit F6 to see what I drew as a free tech...
Medicine! My least favorite to get right away, even with the bonus of Adventurers (Settlers that can cross Tundra, Desert, and Jungle). As the Commercial aren't doing much on the offensive right now, I decide to switch to Steam Power as my next technology.
Theory of Gravity and Medicine don't help us immediately, though, and thus I go back to the front to lead my civilization to further glory. The next goal is to retake Broken Mast.
One of my own Catapults bombards my Cavalry and misses, but my Elites are still forced to retreat. But they have enough success to allow my Veterans to knock out the three Musketmen easily. I keep the city, expecting to have some culture, but apparently I lost it before I got any the last time I controlled it. Going back to Part Nine, I realize I never did have any culture down here, though I did control several of the cities. Oh well. I'm already low on Settlers/Adventurers, so I'll just rush some Libraries.
I then move my troops forward to Broken Mast and Anchor to launch a three-pronged attack next turn to retake Starboard and Rudder, and to raze Foremast.
The Commercial for the most part retreat in 1642, including on the high seas. Perhaps I wouldn't have needed my Frigates anyways - they may prove useful nonetheless.
By 1645 the Urban have joined me in the Industrial Age, becoming the fourth civilization in this Age overall and the first on their landmass. Their arch-nemesis the Utopians lack Physics, Theory of Gravity, and Magnetism; both lack Military Tradition. This technological edge is impressive as they were (and still are) Monarchist while the Utopians were Republican; apparently the far larger Urban cities made up for the lack of the trade bonus. But as they are still on equal footing with military technology, the Urban probably were wise to end the war when they did. None of the civilizations on the Other Big Landmass have yet reached the Industrial Age.
My offensives this turn begin at Starboard, coming from the north.
The Commercial put up a spirited defence, killing one Cavalry and forcing two more to retreat, but it is not enough to save the city. It does, however, force me to divert sufficient Cavalry to Starboard that Rudder will not come under attack this turn.
I do have enough forces to follow through on my attack on Foremast, south of Anchor, however, and the shelling of the city begins in earnest.
The shellings are a smashing success, with seven of the first eight shots hitting the mark. I turn my remaining two cannons around to hit the Musketman who inconveniently, and unfortunately for him, put himself between Anchor and my foot soldiers.
Only one of those two shots hit. And his foolishness almost proves worth it - I find myself short a Cavalry after killing three Musketmen at Foremast. Fortunately the troops at CapnVonBaron's Estate are able to reach the battle in time to win me the day. A Catapult is captured along with countless workers; eventually the former will be upgraded to a maintenance-free Cannon or Artillery. After one more whack-a-Settler my land operations for this turn come to an end, but my sea missions begin anew for the first time in centuries with the launching of the ISS (Intelligent Sailing Ship) Greek Fire, Swampy Plantation, and Fens. The Greek Fire bombards a Galleon, and scores what is the first double-hitpoint Frigate bombard I've ever seen in close to six years of playing Civ3.
1650 begins with the abandonment of Anchor, and the founding of another city next door in accordance with my City Plan, Wind. I then compile the statistics for the last half-century. They're mixed thanks to the annexation of considerable new territory, but one statistic is particularly heartening.
At long last I have more power than I did at my previous peak! It took more than a millenium, but it finally happened! I'd been doing a bit better even before the war, but this really got the power graph growing. Now let's just hope it ends better than the last time I was gaining power!
The Commercial send out Knight against Anchor in 1627.
Despite help from my Cannons, my Elite Cavalry falls. With Walls next turn and a healed Musketman, I hope they will not get away with that again. Generally, however, they shift their troops towards the location of the former Gunwale. My only Cavalry at that location comes under attack.
...and demolishes the offending Medieval Infantry.
In 1630, I make a map of my future city locations:
Spoiler :
That'll take advantage of the currently underutilized Commercial land. But it'll require a lot of Settlers!
After hurrying a few Libraries, I move Pikemen and Cannons forward from Anchor to hammer away at the Commercial Musketmen and Medieval Infantry nearby.
My cannons put forth a decent showing, and the Musketmen are left with no more than two hitpoints apiece. From there my Cavalry and Medieval Infantry are able to make quick work of them.
Having finished off almost all of that stack, my remaining Cavalry begin attacking everyone else in the vicinity.
The stack northwest of the one I'd been targeting is destroyed, and a Settler captured. The Commercial take double-digit losses, and hopefully will be a bit less dangerous in the future.
To the west, one of my Cavalry attacks a Musketman-Settler pair it had Zone of Control'ed in 1627.
They are destroyed. The Commercial are spending all their shields on free workers for me.
The Utopians and Urban finally make peace in 1632. The Utopians had taken the city of Harvest from the Urban, which they had taken from the Frisky, but other than that, the war had just been a big drain of resources.
I lose the western Cavalry in the most recent screenshot and a Swordsman in the IBT, but the overall damage wrought by the Commercial is low. However, I notice a bad sign - they have Cavalry!!!
They still lack Nationalism, but it's a good thing I destroyed most of their Knights. My foreign advisor doesn't tell me of any deals they have to import Horses,and I still don't see any in their territory, so I don't know where they're getting Horses from. They're getting them somewhere though.
But that can be dealt with later. First comes the founding of two new cities. First, we establish CapnVonBaron's Esatte.
And then, on the old site of Pound, the city of Franc.
Can't let this area remain British!Warfare continues on the western front.
The Commercial lose two Musketmen, a Cavalry, a Medeival Infantry, a Worker, and another Settler. My battles then move east.
By the end of the turn this is all that remains.
The Cannons are dishing out some ownage. Unfortunately two of my Cavalry got killed against the Musketmen in the east, but on the whole I still did well this turn. Most of the rest of my Cavalry rebase to Franc in preparation for next turn's attack.
During their turn the Commercial do nothing of note on land, but appear to be hoping to land some troops near Swampy Plantation by sea. Fortunately, my Sooth Sayers are preparing for just such an event.
Although I hadn't been planning to build a navy, it looks like a decent idea at this point. Frigates aren't that expensive. So I swich some of my eastern cities to them.
The other problem at this time is happiness. War weariness increased another notch, taking happiness down to 62% and causing five cities to riot. I decide to treat the symptoms rather than the problem and strike a deal to import Spices from the Scientists.
It's not a great deal, but helping the Scientists with technology is helping myself in the eventual war with the Talented. And it grants me a temporary reprieve in war weariness that the Commercial hopefully won't be able to afford. At this point, however, their Democracy still stands.
Looking around for trades, I happen upon a golden opportunity - the Urban are willing to tech me into the Industrial Age!
We strike the deal, I see that I am researching Nationalism, and I hit F6 to see what I drew as a free tech...
Medicine! My least favorite to get right away, even with the bonus of Adventurers (Settlers that can cross Tundra, Desert, and Jungle). As the Commercial aren't doing much on the offensive right now, I decide to switch to Steam Power as my next technology.
Theory of Gravity and Medicine don't help us immediately, though, and thus I go back to the front to lead my civilization to further glory. The next goal is to retake Broken Mast.
One of my own Catapults bombards my Cavalry and misses, but my Elites are still forced to retreat. But they have enough success to allow my Veterans to knock out the three Musketmen easily. I keep the city, expecting to have some culture, but apparently I lost it before I got any the last time I controlled it. Going back to Part Nine, I realize I never did have any culture down here, though I did control several of the cities. Oh well. I'm already low on Settlers/Adventurers, so I'll just rush some Libraries.
I then move my troops forward to Broken Mast and Anchor to launch a three-pronged attack next turn to retake Starboard and Rudder, and to raze Foremast.
The Commercial for the most part retreat in 1642, including on the high seas. Perhaps I wouldn't have needed my Frigates anyways - they may prove useful nonetheless.
By 1645 the Urban have joined me in the Industrial Age, becoming the fourth civilization in this Age overall and the first on their landmass. Their arch-nemesis the Utopians lack Physics, Theory of Gravity, and Magnetism; both lack Military Tradition. This technological edge is impressive as they were (and still are) Monarchist while the Utopians were Republican; apparently the far larger Urban cities made up for the lack of the trade bonus. But as they are still on equal footing with military technology, the Urban probably were wise to end the war when they did. None of the civilizations on the Other Big Landmass have yet reached the Industrial Age.
My offensives this turn begin at Starboard, coming from the north.
The Commercial put up a spirited defence, killing one Cavalry and forcing two more to retreat, but it is not enough to save the city. It does, however, force me to divert sufficient Cavalry to Starboard that Rudder will not come under attack this turn.
I do have enough forces to follow through on my attack on Foremast, south of Anchor, however, and the shelling of the city begins in earnest.
The shellings are a smashing success, with seven of the first eight shots hitting the mark. I turn my remaining two cannons around to hit the Musketman who inconveniently, and unfortunately for him, put himself between Anchor and my foot soldiers.
Only one of those two shots hit. And his foolishness almost proves worth it - I find myself short a Cavalry after killing three Musketmen at Foremast. Fortunately the troops at CapnVonBaron's Estate are able to reach the battle in time to win me the day. A Catapult is captured along with countless workers; eventually the former will be upgraded to a maintenance-free Cannon or Artillery. After one more whack-a-Settler my land operations for this turn come to an end, but my sea missions begin anew for the first time in centuries with the launching of the ISS (Intelligent Sailing Ship) Greek Fire, Swampy Plantation, and Fens. The Greek Fire bombards a Galleon, and scores what is the first double-hitpoint Frigate bombard I've ever seen in close to six years of playing Civ3.
1650 begins with the abandonment of Anchor, and the founding of another city next door in accordance with my City Plan, Wind. I then compile the statistics for the last half-century. They're mixed thanks to the annexation of considerable new territory, but one statistic is particularly heartening.
At long last I have more power than I did at my previous peak! It took more than a millenium, but it finally happened! I'd been doing a bit better even before the war, but this really got the power graph growing. Now let's just hope it ends better than the last time I was gaining power!
I didn't know Frigates could even do that. I didn't think anything short of the mid-industrial age could do that.
You fool! You've jinxed it!
And, for a third time, choxorn the late finds an awesome story of Quintillus several months after it started.
Truly great story, I look forward to more.
Oh yeah, and thanks for the city named after me.
Thanks, are welcome! Hope you like oases!
Me either. But they can in regular Civ3 Conquests 1.22f as well according to Civ3QEdit. And it's that way in PTW 1.27f, too. I've had it happen a few more times since.
Probably
.You're going to need an awful lot of settlers to rebuild all those Commercial cities you're going to raze. By the way do you have any idea how far along on the tech tree the Talented are?
Great jod so far.
Yep, I'll need a lot of Settlers (or Adventurers now). And as of 1650 I don't really know how advanced the Talented are, although there will be some pretty good indications in the next half-century (I've played up until 1700 at this point).
There is no land action in 1650, with recuperation being the focus instead. On sea, three new ships are launched, the ISS Brucha, ISS Coastal Cove, and ISS Grassy Coast, and the Greek Fire and Swampy Plantation move between two Commerical convoys and my coast, while bombarding them at the same time.
The Fens reaches the area this turn, and next turn I'll be ready to attack the smaller convoy.
Peace is made between the Militarists and Urban in 1652, ending yet another pointless AI war.
The Commercial send their injured ships scurrying home - hopefully not out of reach of mine, although possibly so as they are very fast thanks to both being Seafaring and having Magellan's Voyage - and bombard and attack a settling party of mine.
Their Cavalry loses, and my party survives. It is due to found a city in 1660. No more Commercial Cavalry are seen this turn.
So it is that in 1655 I begin my next advance, this time on the city of Rudder.
The offensive begins poorly, with two Elites being sent to their graves, thanks in part to Catapults. My Cavalry continue to struggle thereafter, with another dying and two retreating, but at least my Medieval Infantry does well, and the city is taken with no more losses than the Commercial suffered.
At sea, the ISS Dromon Delta and ISS Western Shore are launched, the remainder of my western fleet heads south towards the front, and my eastern fleet finally sees some action.
The Swampy Plantation takes little damage in sinking the Galley, and the Greek Fire is not damaged in sinking the Caravel, and is promoted to Elite. They'll head south, the Plantation taking repairs in Oar. In other good news, the Brucha's Commune spots an unguarded Commercial Galley on its way south. It tries to hide in the fog, but if all goes well our navigator will guess its course correctly and we'll either catch and sink it, or chase it to the far ends of the world.
Shaka comes to me in 1657, alleging I have violated Talented borders. Oops. Maybe it's a ship? Needless to say, I agree to withdraw!
Alexander of the Commercial comes, too, requesting peace. But he has nothing worthwhile to offer. The war will continue!
So what does he do? Turns to piracy!
But his pirates are sunk. No skull-and-crossbones will be flying over any of our ships.
I see many other Commercial ships this turn, and am lucky with the galley spotted by the Brucha's Commune - it turns south! Right towards the jaws of my navy! Even better, an injured Galley ends up right by the Commune. My guess is these troops are ferrying troops to the Urban coast, where they'll inevitably be slaughtered now that the Urban-Utopian war is over. They'd be much better off saving their forces to fight me - not that I'm complaining. I promptly sink both Galleys.
The front then turns to land. Fort Recovery is built on the western shore, crucially extending my borders.
I now have a clear path of attack on East India. And of course, I decide to take advantage of that.
One Musketman beats back two Cavalry, but the other are easy pickings, and the city meets its fate. Three Catapults and a bunch of workers are taken with it, and the path to expansion is eased once more.
I decide to advance on the eastern front as well, hitting Stock Market. Although it'll cost me artillery support, I have no idea when the Commercial will sport Riflemen. As I have a feeling it'll be sooner rather than later, advancing as quickly as reasonably possible seems the logical thing to do, at least until the Commercial Democracy falls.
Unfortunately, the Commercial make a heroically strong defence at Stock Market. Democracy, it seems, does not make all the citizens peace-loving hippies, and there's a pretty high concentration of skilled warriors here. I win two battles, lose four, and retreat from four more in the first ten battles. That leaves them with a redlined Musketman - but leaves me with a redlined Cavalry to attack with. Well, if they survive and get Riflemen the losses were all for naught, so I send the injured horse regiment in and hope for the best.
The regiment is successful! There certainly was a high cost for taking that city, but it could have ended much worse. Two pikemen are sent to guard the injured regiment.
The Commercial again prove weak in 1663, merely picking off a Swordsman who probably wouldn't do much anyway.
Lately I've been noticing the population exhibiting a considerably shrinkage - Stock Market, for instance, was size 7 before it's turn. Many cities shrunk again this past turn, in all likelihood due to war weariness. And sure enough...
Anarchy! Not being Religious, they could have several turns of Anarchy. I check the diplomacy screen and see that they still lack Nationalism! Excellent! Although Fascism or Communism would probably be worst for them in a drawn-out war, here I'd much rather take Monarchy without Riflemen. Considering it was 1590, 15 turns ago, that they reached the Industrial Age, I consider myself quite lucky that they still haven't managed to research Nationalism.
I begin my actions with the founding of another town, Crossroads, on the front.
This puts Tuba Town in a safe position, and opens the door to taking Florin. With no hurry and Florin sitting on a Hill, I decide build up a few more forces in Crossroads before the attack.
The eastern front is quiet as well, with rest necessary after the attack on Stock Market. Port, to the east, is marked for capture next. My land troops and artillery begin a long trek east across the mountains towards Currency. At sea, I bombard yet another Commercial convoy, likely headed for Urban shores.
The Commercial do nothing in 1667 but it nevertheless become an unfortunate year. My trade advisor brings me this message.
Uh-oh, what could this mean? I don't even remember who I'm importing Horses from.
Turns out, just that the deal expired. I then recall that it was the Hippophiliacs, logically enough, from who I was importing horses. Which should have increased the skill of my cavalrymen's horses considerably. Alas, for a turn I'm out of Horses. But I've captured a source by now near Tuba Town, which I begin building a road to at once, and will gain a source when Wind's borders expand next turn as well.
I also noticed some Seafaring Settlers heading out to claim some land in 1667. There's not really anything I can do to stop them, as I have a right of passage agreement with them. But it'll be a short-term annoyance - I could defeat them pretty easily at this point.
I hold off for one more turn in my attack on Florin in 1670, allowing for five more Cavalry to be ready for the attack. The Port-side offensive, too, is delayed as I wait for reinforcements to heal. So the only action is to pick off a marauding Musketman. That allows for a new city to be founded, which we name South Bank.
But then I realize that Port is now a mere Town, and I do have four full-strength Cavalry ready. So I attack after all.
It's a well-defended town, though. I retreat once, lose once, and win twice, but they still have at least two Musketmen. It'll fall next turn.
Shaka, "a known liar and cheat" according to my advisor, comes to me in 1672, informing me the embargo against the Commercial is over. He obviously didn't like what the real purpose of it was. Oh well. It served its purpose. I try offering a Mutual Protection Pact to maintain some semblance of friendship, but he calls me, "either incredible arrogant or incredibly stupid", and I sense he wants to add, "probably both." But I do manage to convince him to embargo the Frisky. Anything to keep him diplomatically bound to not attack us. And of course, I wouldn't mind annexing the Frisky island
.
Immediately thereafter, the Talented Navy kicks into high gear.
And high-tech gear as well. I'm not sure where they're headed, but at least it's away from me. The only war declaration I get, for now, is the Frisky against the Urban. Which I'm sure is a mistake for them.
I begin my turn in 1675 by finishing off Port.
My first two Cavalry die, the third wins, and I'm dealt a surprise when a Knight then jumps to the defence.
I didn't know they even had any Knights anymore! It must be on a ship. Unfortunately, it won its first battle.
Another? At least this one is harmless.
And then I face a third. What's up with all these Green Knights? They're dealing some damage, too. Makes you wonder how dangerous the remaining Talented Knights must be.
Yet another! Clearly the Urban are avoiding boatloads of Knights.
And at long last I face a Musketman. I win, and they are left with a redliner. Unfortunately, I've expended all my Cavalry in the region and have only a Veteran Pikeman left. Seeking to sink their ships, I send him in against the odds.
And he wins! Another Hero of the Republic!
But they've still more troops on board the ships! They must be weak to be less potent than a redlined Musketman. But they're enough to delay the capture of the city another turn. Bombardment is highly successful, and the Greek Fire moves in for the kill, barely managing to sink the Galley. It's left to the Swampy Plantation to finish off the Frigate.
Mission accomplished! They've still got a lot of ships, but I'm slowly making a dent in their navy.
In the west, I still intend to take a city this turn, namely, Florin.
Winning the first battle is a huge boon, even if my Cavalry is redlined. The next two Cavalry struggle a bit, but by then I'm seeing Regulars. Still my Cavalry struggle - the hill is a challenge. Four of my first five fail to win, but after the fifth all the defenders are redlined. That makes the battle easy, and Florin is razed.
The Commercial are down to nine cities, a shell of their former empire.
The Fens reaches the area this turn, and next turn I'll be ready to attack the smaller convoy.
Peace is made between the Militarists and Urban in 1652, ending yet another pointless AI war.
The Commercial send their injured ships scurrying home - hopefully not out of reach of mine, although possibly so as they are very fast thanks to both being Seafaring and having Magellan's Voyage - and bombard and attack a settling party of mine.
Their Cavalry loses, and my party survives. It is due to found a city in 1660. No more Commercial Cavalry are seen this turn.
So it is that in 1655 I begin my next advance, this time on the city of Rudder.
The offensive begins poorly, with two Elites being sent to their graves, thanks in part to Catapults. My Cavalry continue to struggle thereafter, with another dying and two retreating, but at least my Medieval Infantry does well, and the city is taken with no more losses than the Commercial suffered.
At sea, the ISS Dromon Delta and ISS Western Shore are launched, the remainder of my western fleet heads south towards the front, and my eastern fleet finally sees some action.
The Swampy Plantation takes little damage in sinking the Galley, and the Greek Fire is not damaged in sinking the Caravel, and is promoted to Elite. They'll head south, the Plantation taking repairs in Oar. In other good news, the Brucha's Commune spots an unguarded Commercial Galley on its way south. It tries to hide in the fog, but if all goes well our navigator will guess its course correctly and we'll either catch and sink it, or chase it to the far ends of the world.
Shaka comes to me in 1657, alleging I have violated Talented borders. Oops. Maybe it's a ship? Needless to say, I agree to withdraw!
Alexander of the Commercial comes, too, requesting peace. But he has nothing worthwhile to offer. The war will continue!
So what does he do? Turns to piracy!
But his pirates are sunk. No skull-and-crossbones will be flying over any of our ships.
I see many other Commercial ships this turn, and am lucky with the galley spotted by the Brucha's Commune - it turns south! Right towards the jaws of my navy! Even better, an injured Galley ends up right by the Commune. My guess is these troops are ferrying troops to the Urban coast, where they'll inevitably be slaughtered now that the Urban-Utopian war is over. They'd be much better off saving their forces to fight me - not that I'm complaining. I promptly sink both Galleys.
The front then turns to land. Fort Recovery is built on the western shore, crucially extending my borders.
I now have a clear path of attack on East India. And of course, I decide to take advantage of that.
One Musketman beats back two Cavalry, but the other are easy pickings, and the city meets its fate. Three Catapults and a bunch of workers are taken with it, and the path to expansion is eased once more.
I decide to advance on the eastern front as well, hitting Stock Market. Although it'll cost me artillery support, I have no idea when the Commercial will sport Riflemen. As I have a feeling it'll be sooner rather than later, advancing as quickly as reasonably possible seems the logical thing to do, at least until the Commercial Democracy falls.
Unfortunately, the Commercial make a heroically strong defence at Stock Market. Democracy, it seems, does not make all the citizens peace-loving hippies, and there's a pretty high concentration of skilled warriors here. I win two battles, lose four, and retreat from four more in the first ten battles. That leaves them with a redlined Musketman - but leaves me with a redlined Cavalry to attack with. Well, if they survive and get Riflemen the losses were all for naught, so I send the injured horse regiment in and hope for the best.
The regiment is successful! There certainly was a high cost for taking that city, but it could have ended much worse. Two pikemen are sent to guard the injured regiment.The Commercial again prove weak in 1663, merely picking off a Swordsman who probably wouldn't do much anyway.
Lately I've been noticing the population exhibiting a considerably shrinkage - Stock Market, for instance, was size 7 before it's turn. Many cities shrunk again this past turn, in all likelihood due to war weariness. And sure enough...
Anarchy! Not being Religious, they could have several turns of Anarchy. I check the diplomacy screen and see that they still lack Nationalism! Excellent! Although Fascism or Communism would probably be worst for them in a drawn-out war, here I'd much rather take Monarchy without Riflemen. Considering it was 1590, 15 turns ago, that they reached the Industrial Age, I consider myself quite lucky that they still haven't managed to research Nationalism.
I begin my actions with the founding of another town, Crossroads, on the front.
This puts Tuba Town in a safe position, and opens the door to taking Florin. With no hurry and Florin sitting on a Hill, I decide build up a few more forces in Crossroads before the attack.
The eastern front is quiet as well, with rest necessary after the attack on Stock Market. Port, to the east, is marked for capture next. My land troops and artillery begin a long trek east across the mountains towards Currency. At sea, I bombard yet another Commercial convoy, likely headed for Urban shores.
The Commercial do nothing in 1667 but it nevertheless become an unfortunate year. My trade advisor brings me this message.
Uh-oh, what could this mean? I don't even remember who I'm importing Horses from.
Turns out, just that the deal expired. I then recall that it was the Hippophiliacs, logically enough, from who I was importing horses. Which should have increased the skill of my cavalrymen's horses considerably. Alas, for a turn I'm out of Horses. But I've captured a source by now near Tuba Town, which I begin building a road to at once, and will gain a source when Wind's borders expand next turn as well.
I also noticed some Seafaring Settlers heading out to claim some land in 1667. There's not really anything I can do to stop them, as I have a right of passage agreement with them. But it'll be a short-term annoyance - I could defeat them pretty easily at this point.
I hold off for one more turn in my attack on Florin in 1670, allowing for five more Cavalry to be ready for the attack. The Port-side offensive, too, is delayed as I wait for reinforcements to heal. So the only action is to pick off a marauding Musketman. That allows for a new city to be founded, which we name South Bank.
But then I realize that Port is now a mere Town, and I do have four full-strength Cavalry ready. So I attack after all.
It's a well-defended town, though. I retreat once, lose once, and win twice, but they still have at least two Musketmen. It'll fall next turn.
Shaka, "a known liar and cheat" according to my advisor, comes to me in 1672, informing me the embargo against the Commercial is over. He obviously didn't like what the real purpose of it was. Oh well. It served its purpose. I try offering a Mutual Protection Pact to maintain some semblance of friendship, but he calls me, "either incredible arrogant or incredibly stupid", and I sense he wants to add, "probably both." But I do manage to convince him to embargo the Frisky. Anything to keep him diplomatically bound to not attack us. And of course, I wouldn't mind annexing the Frisky island
.Immediately thereafter, the Talented Navy kicks into high gear.
And high-tech gear as well. I'm not sure where they're headed, but at least it's away from me. The only war declaration I get, for now, is the Frisky against the Urban. Which I'm sure is a mistake for them.
I begin my turn in 1675 by finishing off Port.
My first two Cavalry die, the third wins, and I'm dealt a surprise when a Knight then jumps to the defence.
I didn't know they even had any Knights anymore! It must be on a ship. Unfortunately, it won its first battle.
Another? At least this one is harmless.
And then I face a third. What's up with all these Green Knights? They're dealing some damage, too. Makes you wonder how dangerous the remaining Talented Knights must be.
Yet another! Clearly the Urban are avoiding boatloads of Knights.
And at long last I face a Musketman. I win, and they are left with a redliner. Unfortunately, I've expended all my Cavalry in the region and have only a Veteran Pikeman left. Seeking to sink their ships, I send him in against the odds.
And he wins! Another Hero of the Republic!
But they've still more troops on board the ships! They must be weak to be less potent than a redlined Musketman. But they're enough to delay the capture of the city another turn. Bombardment is highly successful, and the Greek Fire moves in for the kill, barely managing to sink the Galley. It's left to the Swampy Plantation to finish off the Frigate.
Mission accomplished! They've still got a lot of ships, but I'm slowly making a dent in their navy.
In the west, I still intend to take a city this turn, namely, Florin.
Winning the first battle is a huge boon, even if my Cavalry is redlined. The next two Cavalry struggle a bit, but by then I'm seeing Regulars. Still my Cavalry struggle - the hill is a challenge. Four of my first five fail to win, but after the fifth all the defenders are redlined. That makes the battle easy, and Florin is razed.
The Commercial are down to nine cities, a shell of their former empire.
In 1677 the Talented ships continue to move east, apparently heading towards the far continent. Perhaps they are merely settling more cities in the jungle. We'll find out soon enough.
At long last! Railroads will be a revolution in production and transportation for us, perhaps even making us feel somewhat adequate next to the Talented. I decide to research Industrialism next, as the Talented are building Universal Suffrage in a very shield-poor city and I suspect I may be able to poach it. Even if not, factories will certainly be useful.
I am fortunate to have two sources of Coal, one by CapnVonBaron's Estate, which is sure to make him a very rich man. Railroad construction begins at once, with the first section finished near The Void Beyond.
Another city is founded in 1680, The Lonely Mountain. The Seafaring unfortunately founded a city nearby in 1677, but it will soon be absorbed, by culture or by force.
As my western front moves towards Currency, my eastern front intends to capture Port for the third turn running.
At long last! The capture puts my empire over the 80,000 square-mile mark, or 800 tiles.
War weariness expands in 1685, plummeting happiness to 54%. In more bad news, the Commercial emerge in Monarchy. Many cities refuse to work, including the capital of Thunderfall. With no luxuries available for import, I decide to fight the weariness with the entertainment slider and, in the particularly unruly towns (Thunderfall not amongst them), additional entertainers. This takes happiness up to a reasonable 67%.
Despite this, 1685 is a year for celebration, as the first railroad in the country has been completed, the line between Reallocation and Bills.
Through desert, I know. But it will still help with transportation, and Bills is even using one of the desert mines already. My workers quickly begin extending the line northwards.
The Commercial continue to do remarkable little, but conveniently position a Galley near the Dromon Delta for easy sinking.
Or what should have been easy sinking. Regulars...
We should have better luck on land. All my artillery are ready at Currency, with many Cavalry ready to charge in once the defenders are weakened.
The bombardment goes about as expected, leaving them with about half their former strength. My Cavalry then cross the river and attack up the hill.
Casualties are low thanks to the bombardment, and the city is occupied. Though there is a risk of flipping, I really need a forward base. Unfortunately the Barracks were destroyed in the battle; the remaining Marketplace and Bank aren't quite as immediately useful. The advanced borders prove useful in another way, however, allowing me to found the town of Metal Mountain a turn earlier than expected.
The Commercial finally have some units again, and score a victory at sea over the Fens.
On land they fare worse, with their Cavalry forced to retreat by a Medieval Infantry who later falls to another Cavalry.
Overall, not very damaging. My Cavalry, in turn, launch their planned attack on Euro.
The battle is easily won, and the city kept. Although I plan to relocate it, I've spotted many Seafaring Settlers in the past couple turns, and they might just grab the site if I didn't keep the city. I'll be ready to resettle next turn anyways, so flipping won't be a problem. This also gives me money from selling improvements, a decent compensation for not getting any free workers.
I intend to take Trade this turn as well, and my Cavalry make a long-distance attack on the settlement.
Fighting on flat ground is a nice change of pace, and the battle ends in our favor. The city is razed (the Seafaring Settlers not being seen in this area), and my own Adventurers move towards the area. One of them found the city of Cape of Whales this turn.
Unfortunately, the all-so-successful 17th century ends on the most sour possible note.
Time for diplomacy! This war could make or break us!
My Barricades and the jungle save me for this turn, but they pour in myriads of troops, so many that it takes a long time even with the "Shift" key pressed. There's simply no way I can win this in even field battles. And they've got Flak and a Bomber, too. This is a hopeless position. And to rub it all in, I get this cheerful message in 1700.
Great. Just what I always wanted.
Come 1700, the Empire is obviously in crisis. It takes a long time to scroll through each of the three main enemy stacks. Fortunately two are bogged down in the jungle. It's not clear at all what to do, although one thing is obvious - make peace with the Commercial!
Whew! Not that I want to let them off the hook, but continuing fighting anyone but the Talented here is senseless. I decide alliances is what should come next, even if I'm going to make peace ASAP. Anything to bog down the Talented and possibly save myself.
Never? Really?
Yay! Glad to see you're so eager to help us, ol' buddy!
The Urban, too, "never" will align with me, but Medicine changes that. They've got rights of passage with the Utopians and Unique, so hopefully they'll be able to force the Talented off their island. The Utopians, too, agree to side with me, albeit for a large price.
The Innovators, unfortunately, cannot be convinced. But I do manage to get the Scientists on board. I feel kinda bad about it, since it's essentially sacrificing them, but it's better them than me.
I'm about to get the other continent on board, when I realize I have no embassies there and am bankrupt. But the Utopians have cash, and they're willing to give me it for the Theory of Gravity.
I accept. I'll need some gold to fuel this survival effort.
At long last! Railroads will be a revolution in production and transportation for us, perhaps even making us feel somewhat adequate next to the Talented. I decide to research Industrialism next, as the Talented are building Universal Suffrage in a very shield-poor city and I suspect I may be able to poach it. Even if not, factories will certainly be useful.
I am fortunate to have two sources of Coal, one by CapnVonBaron's Estate, which is sure to make him a very rich man. Railroad construction begins at once, with the first section finished near The Void Beyond.
Another city is founded in 1680, The Lonely Mountain. The Seafaring unfortunately founded a city nearby in 1677, but it will soon be absorbed, by culture or by force.
As my western front moves towards Currency, my eastern front intends to capture Port for the third turn running.
At long last! The capture puts my empire over the 80,000 square-mile mark, or 800 tiles.
War weariness expands in 1685, plummeting happiness to 54%. In more bad news, the Commercial emerge in Monarchy. Many cities refuse to work, including the capital of Thunderfall. With no luxuries available for import, I decide to fight the weariness with the entertainment slider and, in the particularly unruly towns (Thunderfall not amongst them), additional entertainers. This takes happiness up to a reasonable 67%.
Despite this, 1685 is a year for celebration, as the first railroad in the country has been completed, the line between Reallocation and Bills.
Through desert, I know. But it will still help with transportation, and Bills is even using one of the desert mines already. My workers quickly begin extending the line northwards.
The Commercial continue to do remarkable little, but conveniently position a Galley near the Dromon Delta for easy sinking.
Or what should have been easy sinking. Regulars...
We should have better luck on land. All my artillery are ready at Currency, with many Cavalry ready to charge in once the defenders are weakened.
The bombardment goes about as expected, leaving them with about half their former strength. My Cavalry then cross the river and attack up the hill.
Casualties are low thanks to the bombardment, and the city is occupied. Though there is a risk of flipping, I really need a forward base. Unfortunately the Barracks were destroyed in the battle; the remaining Marketplace and Bank aren't quite as immediately useful. The advanced borders prove useful in another way, however, allowing me to found the town of Metal Mountain a turn earlier than expected.
The Commercial finally have some units again, and score a victory at sea over the Fens.
On land they fare worse, with their Cavalry forced to retreat by a Medieval Infantry who later falls to another Cavalry.
Overall, not very damaging. My Cavalry, in turn, launch their planned attack on Euro.
The battle is easily won, and the city kept. Although I plan to relocate it, I've spotted many Seafaring Settlers in the past couple turns, and they might just grab the site if I didn't keep the city. I'll be ready to resettle next turn anyways, so flipping won't be a problem. This also gives me money from selling improvements, a decent compensation for not getting any free workers.
I intend to take Trade this turn as well, and my Cavalry make a long-distance attack on the settlement.
Fighting on flat ground is a nice change of pace, and the battle ends in our favor. The city is razed (the Seafaring Settlers not being seen in this area), and my own Adventurers move towards the area. One of them found the city of Cape of Whales this turn.
Unfortunately, the all-so-successful 17th century ends on the most sour possible note.
Time for diplomacy! This war could make or break us!
My Barricades and the jungle save me for this turn, but they pour in myriads of troops, so many that it takes a long time even with the "Shift" key pressed. There's simply no way I can win this in even field battles. And they've got Flak and a Bomber, too. This is a hopeless position. And to rub it all in, I get this cheerful message in 1700.
Great. Just what I always wanted.
Come 1700, the Empire is obviously in crisis. It takes a long time to scroll through each of the three main enemy stacks. Fortunately two are bogged down in the jungle. It's not clear at all what to do, although one thing is obvious - make peace with the Commercial!
Whew! Not that I want to let them off the hook, but continuing fighting anyone but the Talented here is senseless. I decide alliances is what should come next, even if I'm going to make peace ASAP. Anything to bog down the Talented and possibly save myself.
Never? Really?
Yay! Glad to see you're so eager to help us, ol' buddy!
The Urban, too, "never" will align with me, but Medicine changes that. They've got rights of passage with the Utopians and Unique, so hopefully they'll be able to force the Talented off their island. The Utopians, too, agree to side with me, albeit for a large price.
The Innovators, unfortunately, cannot be convinced. But I do manage to get the Scientists on board. I feel kinda bad about it, since it's essentially sacrificing them, but it's better them than me.
I'm about to get the other continent on board, when I realize I have no embassies there and am bankrupt. But the Utopians have cash, and they're willing to give me it for the Theory of Gravity.
I accept. I'll need some gold to fuel this survival effort.
CivRulesAll
The Void Beyond
- Joined
- May 1, 2007
- Messages
- 590
Uh oh... another war vs the Talented? I think youre going to do better this time though. What government are the Universalists in by the way? They're probably in communism or fascism. I think you can hold out against their first assault though.
DJ Bonebraker
a.k.a Laura
Oooh! They got INFANTRY?! You're DEFINITELY going to need artillery support.... You taking on Infantry with Knights is about like me taking on Vickers Machinegun Battalions in my AoI game with Boer Commandos and Boer Light Cavalry, which I managed to do, but only by using my huge artillery inventory...
Good luck, though!
Good luck, though!
Did you see the stacks by The Void Beyond? They're ginormous. Just wait till you see the scouting reports in the next section. Just one of their stacks has more units than my entire army.
Democracy. They've been at peace. I intend to make them fall into Communism or Fascism. But that won't help me now. At least I do have tons of war happiness now...
Yeah, and my artillery are all way far down south
. Although I'd need a TON of artillery. Quadrupling my number of Cannons to 44 wouldn't make a dent and would just give them 44 Cannons. Even having a hundred Cannons wouldn't do much without a significant foot soldier increase as well. Even a hundred Artillery wouldn't stop them in their tracks. Two thousand cannons plus 500 Longbows and I might be getting somewhere. But their soldiers are worse than the plague.I'll need the luck!
Condor_green
King
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2008
- Messages
- 661
This is far more difficult and exciting then i expected. This war against Universalist kind of reminds me of your war against India in Conquest of the World. Hopefully it will turn out the same.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Agent 89
King
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2009
- Messages
- 978
Too bad you're war with the Commercial had to come to an end. A little while longer and you could have totally wiped them out.
You're going to need all the luck you can get during this war with the Talented. Especially since they have bombers and infantry. Hopefully you can make peace before they get tanks.
You're going to need all the luck you can get during this war with the Talented. Especially since they have bombers and infantry. Hopefully you can make peace before they get tanks.
Thanks! And welcome on board.
Yep, it certainly would have been nice to have annihilated them. But at least they can still help me a little bit now.
Tanks...
. That would be very bad! Although it occured to me it might actually be better for the north to have Tanks than faster Cavalry. Fortunately I can definitely save the south from either Tanks or Cavalry.Hmm... what strategy might work against Tanks? I know...
! Good thing I still have five of them!
The Parliament held a critical meeting on June 2nd, 1700 to decide on a reaction to the invasion. Diplomats had secured alliances with the Utopians, Urban, and Commercial since the declaration of war two and a half months prior, but it was clear alliances themselves wouldn't be enough - even now, the border barricades were being overrun by the combination of the Talented's superior numbers and technology. Auckland, Western Shore, and The Void Beyond were clearly beyond salvation. The question was how much could be salvaged.
Scouts had been preparing reports for several weeks, and counted 55 units of Cavalry by Auckland, one of which was injured. Forty units, including two Elites, were counted by Western Shore. It was these Cavalry that were most concerning, as they had the speed to make quick work of the Empire. The numberless hordes of Infantry and Guerillas, focused on The Void Beyond, ensured nothing could be recaptured, but the government knew that was impractical, anyways.
There soon came to be several camps in the government. The Retreatists, led by Jean-Paul de Blanc-Drapeau, advocated falling back to the protected desert-mountain line.
They had no illusions that this was an ideal situation, but thought trying to win in the north was a hopeless endeavour, and it was best to try to keep the south than waste all the troops for nothing. Thanks to the recent victory over the Commercial, their strategy would cost less than half the Empire, although it would cost most of the most-heavily developed cities.
"If we fight the Talented on the current front, our citizens will die, and when the Talented reach the southern part of the Empire, as they likely will, we'll have nothing left to fight with. If you try to save two rabbits, you will lose them both. Save one of them, let the other be eaten by the wolf, and have something left tomorrow," argued Blanc-Drapeau.
"And then in a century the wolf gets hungry again and eats the other rabbit, and then what are you left with? Nothing at all," countered another MP, Viktor Matveyev. "If we're going to surrender half the empire, we might as well just relocate to another landmass where we'll have a sea to protect us from them."
This idea caught some advocates, and became known as the New Homeland doctrine. The problems were obvious - development would essentially have to begin anew from very little, and you'd have to be sufficiently far away to avoid their Bombers if you wanted a true haven. Conquering the Urban and Utopians might suffice, but to really get away you'd have to go to the far-off continent. The Frisky or Militarist islands might grant survival, but were poor and unlikely to be able to fend off Talented invasions for long. Still, it was uncertain if defeating the Talented from the current base would be possible at all, and escape might be the best option.
On the other side of the fence, MP Willem Vandermark led those who advocated trying to defend as much as possible. They noted that the north was still the heartland, and contained such irreplaceable wonders as JS Bach's Cathedral and Smith's Trading Company. There also was the issue of whether to try to keep Thunderfall, the much-beloved capital of 5700 years.
The debate first focused on the west. Grassy Coast appeared to be doomed.
Even if the roads beyond Western Shore were pillaged, the Cavalry could still reach Grassy Coast. But an ingenious MP suggested perhaps pillaging the roads NW and and NE of Western Shore, and then abandoning the city itself. Prior to this the issue of abandoning cities had not been explicitly touched upon, as no one wanted to lose their constituency, but it had always been boiling underneath the surface.
"What, just order our citizens to raze everything? Can you imagine it being easy to convince them to do so? Intentionally destroying roads is already bad enough in their eyes. And now their homes? How would you like your home to be burnt to the ground?" an MP asked the representative from Occidental Slope.
"Well, it may come to that," replied the abandoning-advocate. But if they don't, they'll be living under Talented hegemony and will be allowing even more of their fellow Intelligent suffer that same fate. Why allow that? And why allow the Talented to utilize our cities? Perhaps we should abandon every city we cannot save."
This caused an uproar, with no MPs from the north liking this idea. But it couldn't be denied that helping the Talented was a horrible idea. There was no good option. Auckland and The Void Beyond seemed doomed as well. Brucha's Commune would be lost if nothing could be done soon.
Here the MP suggested abandoning Auckland and pillaging the two roads SW of it to slow progress. That would buy Brucha's Commune at least a turn, and allow more troops to reach the front to help buy it another turn. Here the Retreatists objected, as they saw death in sending troops to the front now, but they were forced to acknowledge it would buy the south more time.
To the south, the plan was to pillage the roads in the deserts and mountains, except perhaps one or two chokepoints, to keep the Talented Cavalry to the north, and to try to delay the Infantry long enough with pillaging tactics to make it to a peace treaty.
After a week of negotiations, it was decided to abandon the hopeless cities and to aggressively pillage to try to save the rest. However, it was decided to sign more alliance agreements first, lest our potential allies saw us as even weaker. Thus, an embassy was established in Virtue, the Honourable capital.
Cavalry and 7 luxuries - a nice city indeed. The appear to be at peace with everyone, so the reason for Monarchy is unknown, but that isn't our concern - an alliance is.
An expensive deal, but necessary. We can't let the whole other continent gang up on us, too. I consider importing Ivory from them as well, but upon realizing happiness is 98% thanks to war happiness, I decide against it and turn my luxury slider down to zero.
I establish an embassy in the Governing capital of Capital next, a far poorer city.
This will allow them to significantly improve their defences. I might have included Saltpeter, except that I'm not confident in my ability to keep my own sources.
The Hippophiliacs come next.
A decently prosperous capital. If I get them Military Tradition, their troops will be quite powerful.
A World Map is included as well. Their unfortunate lack of Chemistry means I can't give them Military Tradition yet - although it probably wouldn't help them much with landing troops on enemy shores, anyway.
Finally, I go after a Defensive alliance.
This one costs a lot, but they could annoy the Talented some. Cost indeed is an issue - Parliament has been scaping bottom to get these alliances, particularly by way of selling buildings to get funds for embassies. With all the border towns' buildings gone now, they weren't too keen to sell more. The gold per turn wasn't as important - the whole budget is allocated to whatever is necessary - but it would be nice to keep the door open to researching Riflemen nonetheless. However, an innovative MP suggested teching some Scientific civs into the early Industrial Age as an alternate approach.
As expected, this generated a firestorm, especially from the New Homelanders. But there was a lot of potential benefit, so in the end it was agreed upon to attempt this tactic. The first beneficiary would be the Scientists, who needed all the help they could get now that they were our allies.
And...
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked on the first try! Unfortunately, they will not trade it to me! For anything! So I have to resort to the good-ol' "Accept this deal of pay the consequences!"
Fool! Doesn't he realize we're kind of in a hopeless alliance together???
Next I try to tech the Defensive into the Industrial Age, but apparently they lack Monotheism. Great. So the Aviators will get lucky. And, lo and behold...
They get Nationalism, too! And, though the Scientists are still being tightwads, the Aviators have the good sense to accept an exorbitant price for their new technology.
Congratulations on going from a backwater country with little hope to the most advanced power on your continent! Now I just need to get you in the alliance!
And though it may not be quite as good as Replaceable Parts, Nationalism is an absolutely essential technology right now. Riflemen, yes. But equally as importantly, war-time mobilization. We need to stop the Talented Cavalry, but to stop 95 Cavalry, you need a lot of units. Which is where the third part comes in. The draft. We need a lot of units to pillage our lands in the north. And the draft is where we're going to get those units quickly. Not only that, but it allows us to salvage something from the cities that will have to be abandoned.
And just before the order to start the pillaging went out, the final scouting reports arrived: 615 total enemy land units sighted. Jaw-dropping. Our military totals 129 land units, including captured artillery, or 106 without artillery. It pales in comparison. How are you supposed to win with 21.0% of the enemy's land forces, rounded up, taking the best possible spin on the situation?
More specifically, there are 455 units within a tile of The Void Beyond (for one Elite Pikeman to try to defeat), 112 right outside Auckland (two Veteran Pikemen there), 46 within a couple tiles of Western Shore (42 directly at the gates), and two more nearing Thunderfall through the jungle. In reflection of the situation, The Void Beyond is renamed to The Void Beyond Hope.
So with no hope whatsoever, the pillaging begins, first at Auckland.
Quite a bit of destruction, but it's necessary. Unfortunately, their Cavalry will reach the tile NW of my Cavalry in the barricade next turn, and from there will be able to reach Thunderfall.
Western Shore is abandon-pillaged next.
I decide to make another line of pillagement between my Rifleman and Grassy Coast/Tobacco Junction/Bright Future to slow down the Infantry once I lose that territory. A disheartening process, but unfortunately necessary.
All those troops are in mortal danger, but they've ensured it'll be at least five turns until the Infantry line of death reaches those next cities. And that's what we need to slow down in order to save the south.
Continued pillaging of a second line of defence occurs near Brucha's Commune as well.
And finally, The Void Beyond Hope is abandoned.
With 11 units freshly drafted to help in the pillaging, and all that can possibly be done done, the turn is over. The Empire itself is in danger.
Scouts had been preparing reports for several weeks, and counted 55 units of Cavalry by Auckland, one of which was injured. Forty units, including two Elites, were counted by Western Shore. It was these Cavalry that were most concerning, as they had the speed to make quick work of the Empire. The numberless hordes of Infantry and Guerillas, focused on The Void Beyond, ensured nothing could be recaptured, but the government knew that was impractical, anyways.
There soon came to be several camps in the government. The Retreatists, led by Jean-Paul de Blanc-Drapeau, advocated falling back to the protected desert-mountain line.
They had no illusions that this was an ideal situation, but thought trying to win in the north was a hopeless endeavour, and it was best to try to keep the south than waste all the troops for nothing. Thanks to the recent victory over the Commercial, their strategy would cost less than half the Empire, although it would cost most of the most-heavily developed cities.
"If we fight the Talented on the current front, our citizens will die, and when the Talented reach the southern part of the Empire, as they likely will, we'll have nothing left to fight with. If you try to save two rabbits, you will lose them both. Save one of them, let the other be eaten by the wolf, and have something left tomorrow," argued Blanc-Drapeau.
"And then in a century the wolf gets hungry again and eats the other rabbit, and then what are you left with? Nothing at all," countered another MP, Viktor Matveyev. "If we're going to surrender half the empire, we might as well just relocate to another landmass where we'll have a sea to protect us from them."
This idea caught some advocates, and became known as the New Homeland doctrine. The problems were obvious - development would essentially have to begin anew from very little, and you'd have to be sufficiently far away to avoid their Bombers if you wanted a true haven. Conquering the Urban and Utopians might suffice, but to really get away you'd have to go to the far-off continent. The Frisky or Militarist islands might grant survival, but were poor and unlikely to be able to fend off Talented invasions for long. Still, it was uncertain if defeating the Talented from the current base would be possible at all, and escape might be the best option.
On the other side of the fence, MP Willem Vandermark led those who advocated trying to defend as much as possible. They noted that the north was still the heartland, and contained such irreplaceable wonders as JS Bach's Cathedral and Smith's Trading Company. There also was the issue of whether to try to keep Thunderfall, the much-beloved capital of 5700 years.
The debate first focused on the west. Grassy Coast appeared to be doomed.
Even if the roads beyond Western Shore were pillaged, the Cavalry could still reach Grassy Coast. But an ingenious MP suggested perhaps pillaging the roads NW and and NE of Western Shore, and then abandoning the city itself. Prior to this the issue of abandoning cities had not been explicitly touched upon, as no one wanted to lose their constituency, but it had always been boiling underneath the surface.
"What, just order our citizens to raze everything? Can you imagine it being easy to convince them to do so? Intentionally destroying roads is already bad enough in their eyes. And now their homes? How would you like your home to be burnt to the ground?" an MP asked the representative from Occidental Slope.
"Well, it may come to that," replied the abandoning-advocate. But if they don't, they'll be living under Talented hegemony and will be allowing even more of their fellow Intelligent suffer that same fate. Why allow that? And why allow the Talented to utilize our cities? Perhaps we should abandon every city we cannot save."
This caused an uproar, with no MPs from the north liking this idea. But it couldn't be denied that helping the Talented was a horrible idea. There was no good option. Auckland and The Void Beyond seemed doomed as well. Brucha's Commune would be lost if nothing could be done soon.
Here the MP suggested abandoning Auckland and pillaging the two roads SW of it to slow progress. That would buy Brucha's Commune at least a turn, and allow more troops to reach the front to help buy it another turn. Here the Retreatists objected, as they saw death in sending troops to the front now, but they were forced to acknowledge it would buy the south more time.
To the south, the plan was to pillage the roads in the deserts and mountains, except perhaps one or two chokepoints, to keep the Talented Cavalry to the north, and to try to delay the Infantry long enough with pillaging tactics to make it to a peace treaty.
After a week of negotiations, it was decided to abandon the hopeless cities and to aggressively pillage to try to save the rest. However, it was decided to sign more alliance agreements first, lest our potential allies saw us as even weaker. Thus, an embassy was established in Virtue, the Honourable capital.
Cavalry and 7 luxuries - a nice city indeed. The appear to be at peace with everyone, so the reason for Monarchy is unknown, but that isn't our concern - an alliance is.
An expensive deal, but necessary. We can't let the whole other continent gang up on us, too. I consider importing Ivory from them as well, but upon realizing happiness is 98% thanks to war happiness, I decide against it and turn my luxury slider down to zero.
I establish an embassy in the Governing capital of Capital next, a far poorer city.
This will allow them to significantly improve their defences. I might have included Saltpeter, except that I'm not confident in my ability to keep my own sources.
The Hippophiliacs come next.
A decently prosperous capital. If I get them Military Tradition, their troops will be quite powerful.
A World Map is included as well. Their unfortunate lack of Chemistry means I can't give them Military Tradition yet - although it probably wouldn't help them much with landing troops on enemy shores, anyway.
Finally, I go after a Defensive alliance.
This one costs a lot, but they could annoy the Talented some. Cost indeed is an issue - Parliament has been scaping bottom to get these alliances, particularly by way of selling buildings to get funds for embassies. With all the border towns' buildings gone now, they weren't too keen to sell more. The gold per turn wasn't as important - the whole budget is allocated to whatever is necessary - but it would be nice to keep the door open to researching Riflemen nonetheless. However, an innovative MP suggested teching some Scientific civs into the early Industrial Age as an alternate approach.
As expected, this generated a firestorm, especially from the New Homelanders. But there was a lot of potential benefit, so in the end it was agreed upon to attempt this tactic. The first beneficiary would be the Scientists, who needed all the help they could get now that they were our allies.
And...
Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked on the first try! Unfortunately, they will not trade it to me! For anything! So I have to resort to the good-ol' "Accept this deal of pay the consequences!"
Fool! Doesn't he realize we're kind of in a hopeless alliance together???Next I try to tech the Defensive into the Industrial Age, but apparently they lack Monotheism. Great. So the Aviators will get lucky. And, lo and behold...
They get Nationalism, too! And, though the Scientists are still being tightwads, the Aviators have the good sense to accept an exorbitant price for their new technology.
Congratulations on going from a backwater country with little hope to the most advanced power on your continent! Now I just need to get you in the alliance!
And though it may not be quite as good as Replaceable Parts, Nationalism is an absolutely essential technology right now. Riflemen, yes. But equally as importantly, war-time mobilization. We need to stop the Talented Cavalry, but to stop 95 Cavalry, you need a lot of units. Which is where the third part comes in. The draft. We need a lot of units to pillage our lands in the north. And the draft is where we're going to get those units quickly. Not only that, but it allows us to salvage something from the cities that will have to be abandoned.
And just before the order to start the pillaging went out, the final scouting reports arrived: 615 total enemy land units sighted. Jaw-dropping. Our military totals 129 land units, including captured artillery, or 106 without artillery. It pales in comparison. How are you supposed to win with 21.0% of the enemy's land forces, rounded up, taking the best possible spin on the situation?
More specifically, there are 455 units within a tile of The Void Beyond (for one Elite Pikeman to try to defeat), 112 right outside Auckland (two Veteran Pikemen there), 46 within a couple tiles of Western Shore (42 directly at the gates), and two more nearing Thunderfall through the jungle. In reflection of the situation, The Void Beyond is renamed to The Void Beyond Hope.
So with no hope whatsoever, the pillaging begins, first at Auckland.
Quite a bit of destruction, but it's necessary. Unfortunately, their Cavalry will reach the tile NW of my Cavalry in the barricade next turn, and from there will be able to reach Thunderfall.
Western Shore is abandon-pillaged next.
I decide to make another line of pillagement between my Rifleman and Grassy Coast/Tobacco Junction/Bright Future to slow down the Infantry once I lose that territory. A disheartening process, but unfortunately necessary.
All those troops are in mortal danger, but they've ensured it'll be at least five turns until the Infantry line of death reaches those next cities. And that's what we need to slow down in order to save the south.
Continued pillaging of a second line of defence occurs near Brucha's Commune as well.
And finally, The Void Beyond Hope is abandoned.
With 11 units freshly drafted to help in the pillaging, and all that can possibly be done done, the turn is over. The Empire itself is in danger.
Damn! They have as many units near your borders as 5 times your entire army? They must have thousands of units. And Bombers, Hoover Dam, and Infantry? They're just two techs from the Modern Age!
BTW, did you try getting the Militaristic, Frisky, or Seafaring on your side? Weak as they are, it's still better than them allying with the Talented.
BTW, did you try getting the Militaristic, Frisky, or Seafaring on your side? Weak as they are, it's still better than them allying with the Talented.
Similar threads
