Doesn't culture gains count for the south African nations ? And what other advantage do Ottomans have in terms of winning vps compared to Morocco and Egypt ? >_>
Scramble for Africa strategy?
- Thread starter ggmoyang
- Start date
Doesn't culture gains count for the south African nations ? And what other advantage do Ottomans have in terms of winning vps compared to Morocco and Egypt ? >_>
Yzman
Deity
So after my first game as the Boers was a total flop ( 4 Civs declared war on me within 3 turns of start) I started another. I am on turn 10 so far and no one has declared war on me. I just met Portugal and both them and England are at war with the Zulu.
Honestly I am not even sure how I should be approaching this. I am building units right now but my cities have fairly low production, but should I use this opportunity of peace to start focusing on culture early perhaps?
Honestly I am not even sure how I should be approaching this. I am building units right now but my cities have fairly low production, but should I use this opportunity of peace to start focusing on culture early perhaps?
You are playing on deity, right ? Then peace wont last long, you need to take out England, as they outproduce you quite heavily, and hopefully you can bribe, suck up to and everything else to Portugal and Germany when you meet them to keep them off your back and onto Zulus.
Yzman
Deity
Yes I am on deity...I am now on turn 68 and no one has declared war on me. The peace seems odd but I think its because they are focused on the Zulu. I am very low on the scoreboard though and have started producing some culture buildings just because no one has attacked me yet. I am sure once the Zulu are finished off they will but right now I am more focused on score. I have no idea how I am gonna be able to catch up. I have around 200 points, leader has 1300 or so I think and like I said, 68 turns remaining.
What should be my focus assuming I have "survived"?
Edit: And finally at turn 64, the zulu were eliminated and just like that England declared war on me. Here we go...
What should be my focus assuming I have "survived"?
Edit: And finally at turn 64, the zulu were eliminated and just like that England declared war on me. Here we go...
Yzman
Deity
I reloaded since I got dominated around 20 turns back. I am now focusing on military more. I am wondering whether I should just declare war on England and start focusing on them. I mean its coming eventually right? Otherwise I am just essentially sitting while they build up a force that I know will attack me in 10 turns or so along with Germany.
As said, take out England, that way you can get a few ships out to help support, and pretty much means you only have to focus northwards.
Yzman
Deity
Well this is impossible. Kudos to everyone that is able to do it. I can not take out England. I have been at war with them since turn 3, its always a defensive war, they just have never ending troops. Its at turn 60 or so right now and I am in no condition to ever start mounting an assault. I am not even sure if I will be able to hold off England and Germany. Its probably a lost cause. I am 3rd from the bottom in score, and that is only because 2 other civs have been wiped out.
You have to take one city from England by turn 25~ ish otherwise they end up with too much stuff. Bring all of your volunteers down to your southern city and crank out two rifled cannons as quickly as possible. Once those are out, you can start advancing forward on England's cities.
Geography is crucial in this game. You actually want a fairly isolated start and avoid exploration if at all possible.
The European civs cannot declare war on you until you've met them, so you can delay meeting Germany and Portugal for several turns, and France and Belgium for much longer. (You can go through the game without ever meeting Italy).
So you generally want rough terrain and/or mountains separating you from Portugal (most important), and the Germany and maybe Zulus.
Based on several playthroughs, it seems like European civs LOVE to declare war jointly, but are not really interested in declaring war on their own. In addition, they are highly likely to declare war if they are not at war with anyone, but less likely (but may still occasionally do it) if they are currently at war. If you are okay with reloading, as soon as you are jointly DoW'ed, reload the turn before and try to bribe one of those civs to war with someone else. If you can't do it, DoW *one* of them.
For example, in my recent Deity Boer game (which I won earlier today):
I initially bribed England to DoW the Zulus. Fortunately, the other Europeans DoW'ed the Zulus naturally. This gave me a bit of peace (I built some units and attacked England).
The Zulus were eventually beaten. The turn after Portugal took Ulundi, they jointly DoW'ed me with Germany. I reloaded, and liberated a Zulu city from the England and surrounded their city so they couldn't be taken. I then bribed Portugal to DoW the Zulus. Now that they were involved in a war, Portugal was no longer interested in DoW'ing me. And without a partner, Germany did not do it on his own.
At a later point, Belgium and Portugal tried to jointly DoW me. Belgium had just declared peace with Ethiopia and Egypt, who Portugal was still warring with, so it was clear that Belgium was the initiator. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to DoW anyone else, so I DoW'ed Belgium. Now, Portugal did not DoW me.
Near the end, Italy and Portugal were at war with Morocco (Portugal was warring with others). During France's turn, he elimianted Morocco, so during Italy's turn he was without a war so he jointly DoW'ed me with Portugal. I reloaded and paid Italy to DoW the Zulus (even though Italy couldn't really do anything since he was so far away). Now, the joint war declaration did not happen.
So hopefully that gives you an idea of how the DoW process works for the European civs, and how you can manipulate it to minimize your wars.
In my game, I was able to opportunistically take Port Elizabeth. (Some Zulu units were taking the brunt of the city assault, so I easily blasted it with a Rifled Cannon and took it with a Volunteer). That was probably between turn 10-20. However, it took a long time (Turn 50-60) to take Cape Town.
Taking England is crucial (though I've heard one or two cases where someone managed to be Friends with the Europeans by attacking the Zulus). Fighting Portugal and Germany isn't strictly necessary. Take out England, get lots of culture and try to focus European attention on Egypt and Ethiopia.
In my game, I took Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and 2 other English cities. I then DoW'ed Germany and took Swampland (misspelled) and a minor German city. I was forced to preemptively attack Belgium (who would otherwise have provoked Portugal to attack me) and right near the end I did manage to take Boma.
Ended up winning (over Ethiopia) by about 2500 points. And over Egypt by about 3000.
The main challenge was that Portugal had ridiculous numbers of troops but I was able to keep her focused on other civs instead of me.
crocivfanatic
Warlord
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2013
- Messages
- 173
I didnt went to war against england entire game and still was able to won.
Some feedback from my win as Ottomans on Deity last night (well this morning actually).
It's essential to be able to access coal to beat the Italians. I saved a starting position with coal 10 hexes or so south of Benghazi and after a Privateer I built a settler in the capital and founded a city on top of the coal (so no worker required).
I got Benghazi to build a rifled cannon immediately too.
In the meantime bribe the Italians to attack Egypt and the French to attack Morocco. The French were so occupied with this we stayed friendly up until about turn 70-80.
Now wait until the Italians have taken Alexandra, they will then move onto Egypt's other coastal city Suez. Attack the Italians (they will DOW you within the next turn or so anyway) and use the cannon and rifleman to capture Alexandra - keep it!
Then move the cannon and rifleman over to Suez and repeat.
You now can spend up to about turn 40 wiping out the Italians and then Gibralter.
I then sent a settler down via Egyptian roads and built a city between them and Ethiopia - max this out with military unit bonus buildings.
You then will hopefully be able to be negotiate peace with the Europeans (might have to attack Lisbon and the Germans before you can do this - once one makes peace they all usually do).
Max your trade routes for gold and Suez will be bringing you VPs.
Then make allies with the city states below Ethiopia, bribe the Europeans to attack them for a turn or two then pile in.
When capturing a Ethiopian city a then sold it to Egypt in exchange for them DOWing Ethiopia too. When I got Addas Adiba I sold it to the Moroccans (who they were at peace with) to stop the Ethiopians from recapturing it.
Given how tough the Ethiopian bonuses are it was a slog but got the final Ethopian city with a few turns spare. Cavalry appear to be the most effective unit against their units. (Ethiopia will make peace with most of the other civs before you end).
It's essential to be able to access coal to beat the Italians. I saved a starting position with coal 10 hexes or so south of Benghazi and after a Privateer I built a settler in the capital and founded a city on top of the coal (so no worker required).
I got Benghazi to build a rifled cannon immediately too.
In the meantime bribe the Italians to attack Egypt and the French to attack Morocco. The French were so occupied with this we stayed friendly up until about turn 70-80.
Now wait until the Italians have taken Alexandra, they will then move onto Egypt's other coastal city Suez. Attack the Italians (they will DOW you within the next turn or so anyway) and use the cannon and rifleman to capture Alexandra - keep it!
Then move the cannon and rifleman over to Suez and repeat.
You now can spend up to about turn 40 wiping out the Italians and then Gibralter.
I then sent a settler down via Egyptian roads and built a city between them and Ethiopia - max this out with military unit bonus buildings.
You then will hopefully be able to be negotiate peace with the Europeans (might have to attack Lisbon and the Germans before you can do this - once one makes peace they all usually do).
Max your trade routes for gold and Suez will be bringing you VPs.
Then make allies with the city states below Ethiopia, bribe the Europeans to attack them for a turn or two then pile in.
When capturing a Ethiopian city a then sold it to Egypt in exchange for them DOWing Ethiopia too. When I got Addas Adiba I sold it to the Moroccans (who they were at peace with) to stop the Ethiopians from recapturing it.
Given how tough the Ethiopian bonuses are it was a slog but got the final Ethopian city with a few turns spare. Cavalry appear to be the most effective unit against their units. (Ethiopia will make peace with most of the other civs before you end).
Sharples
Prince
I might as well bump this thread, I am having a hard time at beating the Boers or the Ottomans, and on Emperor!
I'm bumping this thread, I've been playing a lot of SFA scenario, it's one of my favorites to play now. It is really challenging for the Boers or the Ottomans. Harder as the Boers, they is pretty much luck based that Ethopia gets taken down.
I'm playing as the Ottomans now and I am trying really hard to get GPT. I have literally given up sending my naval army past Dakar, The amount of Portugese, English and Germanic ships I see is beyond that I can control of. The lip past Dakar, where the west side of Africa breaks is really hard to get through. It's not the fact that the cities are hard, but there is an on-stream of SotL's, Brandenburg classes, Ironclads and Privateers.
Playing as the Ottomans now, the amount of GPT I have is insane, I am getting 859 GPT and stock piling gold just in case if I make another friend and I can sell off my gold for GPT. While 800+ may seem a lot, in this scenario it is no where near close! I am gaining around like 65 points per turn, and I have over 800! The amount of GPT conversion to points is incredibly small. Compare it to culture, there is a massive difference.
In my current game, as the Ottomans, I have met almost everyone, the Boers score was getting too high and they were there all alone, so I paid England a small amount of GPT for them to be DoW'd on. They got wiped out almost immediately. The Zulu weren't very far behind, they were also quickly taken, but as for now they're still alive, having only one city called Nobama and getting 40 score per turn!! Compared to my 800 GPT, I am getting around 60-ish. And I have like 4-5 cities.
I am currently going for Ethopia now, I have seem them starting to spike up in the score, along with England, but I know Ethopia is a bigger threat, their culture will get far out of hand. Here is a small little army I'm building up, not to mention all my GPT, happiness, ect.
I have been selling cities very close to Egypts border in exchange for GPT, thankfully most of the time he burns them, then I resettle them for extra of his GPT, but the map is starting to become crowded, and I know the 800 is gong to last much longer.
I have completed wiped out Italy, the sooner they die the better, I got none of their ships with the privateers I killed with (I killed 6) Ciao's. After I was done with Italy, I gave Morroco the far eastern Italian city, they burned it down so I don't remember the name for a small exchange for GPT why did I do this? Because there is a little trick.
Basically what I did was give them the eastern Italian city for small GPT, then I gave them the capital of Italy, Palermo. I got around 220 GPT from them, just from that city. Because it was bordered with the eastern Italian city that I gave Morocco. If I would of given him Palermo without giving him the eastern city, I would of got much, much lesser (around 8 GPT)
I sapped him out of victory, this was the same with Egypt, building cities on their border and selling them to it was my life line for GPT.
Shortly after I took Italy out I went the Algiers, Gibraltar, Lisbon and Dakar. I still have Algeris, and I am planning to sell it off once my GPT with Morroco ends. Once I took Lisbon out the Portugese sued for peace, giving my 48 gold per turn. I gave them back their capital for only 10, but yet again I gave them Gibraltar for 65 gold per turn, because it is extremely close to their borders. I also gave them Dakar, just because France was going to take it back and I didn't want that, I got around 15 GPT from that though, sadly.
I plan to repeat my steps, Gibilatar has gone, permanently, but the Portugese thankfully resettled up there, so I might take those cities back once the Portguses GPT to me expires, then make her sue for peace again, and give her back the cities for a lot more GPT.
But this is getting really troubling, 800 simply isn't enough for winning as the Ottomans. I'm trying my best to sap whatever I can out of everyone for GPT, can anyone help me please?
Thanks!
I'm bumping this thread, I've been playing a lot of SFA scenario, it's one of my favorites to play now. It is really challenging for the Boers or the Ottomans. Harder as the Boers, they is pretty much luck based that Ethopia gets taken down.
I'm playing as the Ottomans now and I am trying really hard to get GPT. I have literally given up sending my naval army past Dakar, The amount of Portugese, English and Germanic ships I see is beyond that I can control of. The lip past Dakar, where the west side of Africa breaks is really hard to get through. It's not the fact that the cities are hard, but there is an on-stream of SotL's, Brandenburg classes, Ironclads and Privateers.
Playing as the Ottomans now, the amount of GPT I have is insane, I am getting 859 GPT and stock piling gold just in case if I make another friend and I can sell off my gold for GPT. While 800+ may seem a lot, in this scenario it is no where near close! I am gaining around like 65 points per turn, and I have over 800! The amount of GPT conversion to points is incredibly small. Compare it to culture, there is a massive difference.
In my current game, as the Ottomans, I have met almost everyone, the Boers score was getting too high and they were there all alone, so I paid England a small amount of GPT for them to be DoW'd on. They got wiped out almost immediately. The Zulu weren't very far behind, they were also quickly taken, but as for now they're still alive, having only one city called Nobama and getting 40 score per turn!! Compared to my 800 GPT, I am getting around 60-ish. And I have like 4-5 cities.
I am currently going for Ethopia now, I have seem them starting to spike up in the score, along with England, but I know Ethopia is a bigger threat, their culture will get far out of hand. Here is a small little army I'm building up, not to mention all my GPT, happiness, ect.
I have been selling cities very close to Egypts border in exchange for GPT, thankfully most of the time he burns them, then I resettle them for extra of his GPT, but the map is starting to become crowded, and I know the 800 is gong to last much longer.
I have completed wiped out Italy, the sooner they die the better, I got none of their ships with the privateers I killed with (I killed 6) Ciao's. After I was done with Italy, I gave Morroco the far eastern Italian city, they burned it down so I don't remember the name for a small exchange for GPT why did I do this? Because there is a little trick.
Basically what I did was give them the eastern Italian city for small GPT, then I gave them the capital of Italy, Palermo. I got around 220 GPT from them, just from that city. Because it was bordered with the eastern Italian city that I gave Morocco. If I would of given him Palermo without giving him the eastern city, I would of got much, much lesser (around 8 GPT)
I sapped him out of victory, this was the same with Egypt, building cities on their border and selling them to it was my life line for GPT.
Shortly after I took Italy out I went the Algiers, Gibraltar, Lisbon and Dakar. I still have Algeris, and I am planning to sell it off once my GPT with Morroco ends. Once I took Lisbon out the Portugese sued for peace, giving my 48 gold per turn. I gave them back their capital for only 10, but yet again I gave them Gibraltar for 65 gold per turn, because it is extremely close to their borders. I also gave them Dakar, just because France was going to take it back and I didn't want that, I got around 15 GPT from that though, sadly.
I plan to repeat my steps, Gibilatar has gone, permanently, but the Portugese thankfully resettled up there, so I might take those cities back once the Portguses GPT to me expires, then make her sue for peace again, and give her back the cities for a lot more GPT.
But this is getting really troubling, 800 simply isn't enough for winning as the Ottomans. I'm trying my best to sap whatever I can out of everyone for GPT, can anyone help me please?
Thanks!
nico_france
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2014
- Messages
- 1
Hi, I tryied your map (thans for sharing) but struggle for the first point : bribe Portugals to DoW Zulus.
I can't manage to make them do this, except if I go myself on war to and in that case, Zulus make me a priority so, with the english on the other side, my death come shortly.
Can you explain me how you do this?
Thank you !
I read some posts here and tried Ottoman Carpentry.
I bribed France to DOW Morocco and immediately bribed Italy to DOW Egypt. Italy DOWed me shortly after. I lost Tunis but managed to retake Alexandria (and sold it to Egypt for GPT) and Suez (i kept it). I kept my RIflemen at cost tiles so Italy coudnt land (well, they spread from Tunis anyway) and defend Tripolis with Rifle Cannons (from italian navy). I was doing fine. Friends with Egypt and Morocco, i took all their GPT.
Sadly rest of the Europeans (Belgium, Germany, England and Portugal) DOWed me (except France), I wasnt able to bribe them and prevent this joint attack. Although it wasnt immediate threat it showed as big problem in a long term (it also prevented me from meeting Boers).
Morocco was losing so i gave them (for GPT) inland italian cities that i captured (and bombard other italian cities from the safe Morocco haven). It didnt prevent Morocco from denouncing me (byebye their GPT). Around 53 I finally wiped out Italy and bribed Ethiopia to DOW Egypt (Egypt didnt want to DOW Ethiopia) and after that I bribed France to DOW Ethiopia. Ethiopia was leading with points, some Europians and me (Boers, Egypt were low. Morocco had same score but it was clear they wont last long).
I tried to end the war with Europeans (and bribe them to DOW Ethiopia) but i manage to make peace with only Germany (after taking 2 inland cities near my border) and Belgium. I immediately bribed them to DOW Ethiopia. I took Gibraltar and Lisbon (sold for GPT to Egypt as it was hard to defend atm) with some losses and Eng+Port coudnt hurt me in Egypt territory (no war, no OpenBorder).
Around 70 I was moving my land army towards Ethiopia and navy thru Suez to attack eastern shore Eng+Port cities (to force them to make peace) as most of their navy was at Gibraltar (at least i hoped) , Morocco was wiped out:/ 4 countries were bashing Ethiopia with zero effect, well they manage to capture three cities, but Ethiopia took 2 of them back (at least lowered the population). 3 of their biggest cities were untouched. Problem was terrain. Harar and Gondar were in the middle of the jungle.
Around 80 i took one Portuguese port and made peace. Guess what..i coundt bribe them to DOW Ethiopia (for the rest of the game). SCoreboard: Ethiopia big lead, France 3k, me 2,7k and what the.. Boers (unmet civ for me) big jump to 2,3k :O I was rdy to attack Ethiopia, but it was obvious i cant do it on my own.
At 83 i DOWed them. At 86 (thx to surprise attack and good positioning) I took Adwa and Lalibela, I coudnt give them to Morocco (wiped out), Egypt (they made peace and OpBorder Ethiopea + denounced me, bastards) so i gave them (for GPT) to Belgium (no OB, no war with Ethiopia) with (was afraid to sell them to France as they had still higher score than me by 300). I finally made peace with England (89) and bribe them to DOW Ethiopia (well, they never make it to the fight).
Boers were slowly catching up with me, but i coudnt bribe to DOW them as we didnt met and buying OB from England would be like 400GPt/per turns. OB with Belgium run out and i had to buy for cca. 400gpt/per turn (horrible, but i had no choic; not to mention that it kicked my troops from their territory and i had to reposition them like for 2 turns)
At 90 i took Addis Abbeba (sold to Belgium) and at 95 Bahir Dar (same) north of Gondar. It looked like a defeat, iwas sure i cant make it in time. (it was impossible to use rifle cannons in the jungle to bombard both Harar and Gondar (well, i brought couple of workers and cut crucial jungle so few cannons actually could). I just pushed everything to Harar (and luckily they sent part of their army against my CS ally). At 95 i was only 100 points ahead of Boers.
4 turns left i took Harar and prayed..i could bombard Gondar from the northern hills (but it was in their teritory so i just "cannon fodder" all my northern mounted units to keep Ethiopia from destroying those two cannons on the hills.
2 turns left, i took Gondar to red but I coudnt get melee unit near to capture it. Boers got ahead of me with 2988, me 2958 (OH NO! OH NO!)
1 turn left. score Boers 4095, me 4023. after plenty of reloads i manage to sneak Cavalry to Gondar and capture it and raise my score to 4138. I pushed "next turn" and prayed...Boers jumped to 4024..wait wait..i jumped to 4023..no kidding!
I knew i had to get back couple of turns and DOW Portugal and try to capture and hold one of their ports with my eastern navy or DOW France and capture Algiers with my mediterranean navy. Problem wasnt capturing but holding (or timing of capturing), because 90% of my navy were melee units. I had like 2 Frigates.
But...I was lazy so i reloaded 99 turn again and sold every single (workers too) unit after capturing Gondar. I traded every luxury and strategic resources.. next turn and pray...Boers 4024...me....wait...4027
barely made it on my first try, but made it
I will try to post Steam picture if its possible.
Now onto Boers achiv. And sorry for the wall of text.
I bribed France to DOW Morocco and immediately bribed Italy to DOW Egypt. Italy DOWed me shortly after. I lost Tunis but managed to retake Alexandria (and sold it to Egypt for GPT) and Suez (i kept it). I kept my RIflemen at cost tiles so Italy coudnt land (well, they spread from Tunis anyway) and defend Tripolis with Rifle Cannons (from italian navy). I was doing fine. Friends with Egypt and Morocco, i took all their GPT.
Sadly rest of the Europeans (Belgium, Germany, England and Portugal) DOWed me (except France), I wasnt able to bribe them and prevent this joint attack. Although it wasnt immediate threat it showed as big problem in a long term (it also prevented me from meeting Boers).
Morocco was losing so i gave them (for GPT) inland italian cities that i captured (and bombard other italian cities from the safe Morocco haven). It didnt prevent Morocco from denouncing me (byebye their GPT). Around 53 I finally wiped out Italy and bribed Ethiopia to DOW Egypt (Egypt didnt want to DOW Ethiopia) and after that I bribed France to DOW Ethiopia. Ethiopia was leading with points, some Europians and me (Boers, Egypt were low. Morocco had same score but it was clear they wont last long).
I tried to end the war with Europeans (and bribe them to DOW Ethiopia) but i manage to make peace with only Germany (after taking 2 inland cities near my border) and Belgium. I immediately bribed them to DOW Ethiopia. I took Gibraltar and Lisbon (sold for GPT to Egypt as it was hard to defend atm) with some losses and Eng+Port coudnt hurt me in Egypt territory (no war, no OpenBorder).
Around 70 I was moving my land army towards Ethiopia and navy thru Suez to attack eastern shore Eng+Port cities (to force them to make peace) as most of their navy was at Gibraltar (at least i hoped) , Morocco was wiped out:/ 4 countries were bashing Ethiopia with zero effect, well they manage to capture three cities, but Ethiopia took 2 of them back (at least lowered the population). 3 of their biggest cities were untouched. Problem was terrain. Harar and Gondar were in the middle of the jungle.
Around 80 i took one Portuguese port and made peace. Guess what..i coundt bribe them to DOW Ethiopia (for the rest of the game). SCoreboard: Ethiopia big lead, France 3k, me 2,7k and what the.. Boers (unmet civ for me) big jump to 2,3k :O I was rdy to attack Ethiopia, but it was obvious i cant do it on my own.
At 83 i DOWed them. At 86 (thx to surprise attack and good positioning) I took Adwa and Lalibela, I coudnt give them to Morocco (wiped out), Egypt (they made peace and OpBorder Ethiopea + denounced me, bastards) so i gave them (for GPT) to Belgium (no OB, no war with Ethiopia) with (was afraid to sell them to France as they had still higher score than me by 300). I finally made peace with England (89) and bribe them to DOW Ethiopia (well, they never make it to the fight).
Boers were slowly catching up with me, but i coudnt bribe to DOW them as we didnt met and buying OB from England would be like 400GPt/per turns. OB with Belgium run out and i had to buy for cca. 400gpt/per turn (horrible, but i had no choic; not to mention that it kicked my troops from their territory and i had to reposition them like for 2 turns)
At 90 i took Addis Abbeba (sold to Belgium) and at 95 Bahir Dar (same) north of Gondar. It looked like a defeat, iwas sure i cant make it in time. (it was impossible to use rifle cannons in the jungle to bombard both Harar and Gondar (well, i brought couple of workers and cut crucial jungle so few cannons actually could). I just pushed everything to Harar (and luckily they sent part of their army against my CS ally). At 95 i was only 100 points ahead of Boers.
4 turns left i took Harar and prayed..i could bombard Gondar from the northern hills (but it was in their teritory so i just "cannon fodder" all my northern mounted units to keep Ethiopia from destroying those two cannons on the hills.
2 turns left, i took Gondar to red but I coudnt get melee unit near to capture it. Boers got ahead of me with 2988, me 2958 (OH NO! OH NO!)
1 turn left. score Boers 4095, me 4023. after plenty of reloads i manage to sneak Cavalry to Gondar and capture it and raise my score to 4138. I pushed "next turn" and prayed...Boers jumped to 4024..wait wait..i jumped to 4023..no kidding!
I knew i had to get back couple of turns and DOW Portugal and try to capture and hold one of their ports with my eastern navy or DOW France and capture Algiers with my mediterranean navy. Problem wasnt capturing but holding (or timing of capturing), because 90% of my navy were melee units. I had like 2 Frigates.
But...I was lazy so i reloaded 99 turn again and sold every single (workers too) unit after capturing Gondar. I traded every luxury and strategic resources.. next turn and pray...Boers 4024...me....wait...4027
barely made it on my first try, but made itI will try to post Steam picture if its possible.
Now onto Boers achiv. And sorry for the wall of text.
hope it works
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Waywocket
Warlord
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2011
- Messages
- 143
If you're looking for an easier time without just outright cheating, take a look at my turn 0 autosave: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=527808.
I got really lucky with that game.
I got really lucky with that game.
Boers - you have no choice but to attack English and try to capture Port Elis and keep them in Cape Town (or capture it) while they are busy with Zulu bcs if both Portugal and English attack Zulu, Zulu wont last long and you are next target and you dont have a chance against both of them).
forget "no scouting": 1) If you manage to capture English port you will surely meet rest of the Europeans, soon. 2) you have to reach Ethiopia and at least Egypt to be able to bribe others (Portugal) to attack them (i was in red number whole game, but for some surplus luxury its possible)
If you not reach Ethiopia, Portugal will eat Zulu and turn on you. Even if they dont wipe Zulu out, they will make peace eventually. Its crucial avoid war with Portugal, other civs are manageable.
If you cant avoid war with Portugal, you cant hold captured English ports. You can survive but you will focus on culture too late. Go for Hermitage asap.
You need a lot of luck (which i hadnt).
I manage to capture Port Elis and Nobamba from English, I was about to capture Cape Town (around turn 50) and Portugal attacked me (they gave peace to Zulu few turns before). As i didnt scout Ethiopia and north Africa i coudnt bribe Portugal to attack someone else, i tried to reload few turns, but i just cant prevent the war against them. I had to give Port Elis to Germany (i had war with the rest of the Europe) bcs of the huge Portugal navy. I had three towns (Nobamba was small) Portugal attacked Zulu and wiped them out and I captured Umgun (kept it) and Ulundi (20 turns left) form Portugal, no peace... 12 turns left, i captured Portugal port (cant hold it tho) and inland city, but i am still trailing 900 points (behind Ethiopia; they captured Portugal city too), 160 culture/turn (i will get artist and writer in 95 turn). I could capture another Portugal city in few turns, but they just refusing to make peace (well, it wont help me now anyway).. maggots
late in the night i did, thx for the tips here, i tried what Halcyan2 did
1)forget about building ironworks and factory or military bulding or whatever for now...you need workshop and build 2 caravans to boost production, after that build 3 cannons right away (i built watermill and barracks too) and keep building rifleman and cannons; turn cities to production (in golden age switch to culture)¨
1a) building capital (or city where you plan to build GreatPeople buildings) on river is advantage bcs of Gardens GP bonus
2)If Portugal with England dont DOW Zulu, bribe them (first thing to do with your worker is to make luxuries working, so you have something to trade); at least make England to DOW Zulu and pray that Portugal wont DOW you; if you cant make it happen, restart/reload
2a) avoid war with Portugal at all cost
2b) you really need defensive (some mountains) terrain at least at one side; i could easily defend northwest and north (after taking Cape town - see 12), i was open only to Portugal on east)
3) dont let England to build city near you (inbetween their starting ports and your cities); you probably cant prevent Zulu from build a city near you without going to war with them
4) do not scout yet
5) if England didnt DOW you, lucky you, deploy your troops near Port Elis and capture it (i DOWed England at turn 18); i captured it in turn 25 (i had only 1 cannon near the city:/)
for some reason England sent only MOW (no Privateer, no ironclad) to Port Elis, they kept its defense on zero (so any melee unit could easily capture it) ergo you have to destroy any melee unit trying to reach it, on my map Zulu build Nobamba inbetween me and Englang, Englang capture it shortly after i DOWed them. you can open borders Zulu (even if they dont open their to you). I didnt build any citadel (towards Cape town to make it easier) at first bcs i was afraid Portugal would eventually DOW me and i need (i knew from previous try) 2 citadels immediatelly, preferably 3 (in the open terrain in the east), but eventually i had to, without it i would need many more units to capture Cape town (see 9)
6) after taking Port Elis build Lancer and send it to Ethiopia and Egypt (i sent 2 workers but they coudnt sneak and were captured), Europeans will find you soon via cargoships/ships. If you meet all Europeans, send Lancer to Morocco and Ottomans too
7) Halcyan2 was absolutely right about Europeans love to DOW jointly; so if it happens, reload and declare war to the farther of them (Belgium, Italy are the most harmless)
8) annex captured cities and build caravans in those cities to maximize production
9) at turn 34 i had 4 riflemen and 5 cannons and i dared to start building ironworks in capital; Portugal still at war with Zulu; at turn 40 i had Nobamba for couple of turns (annexed and caravans>monument>amphitheater>opera) and I switched to defense (i finally built the citadel towards Cape twon). i could hold them but not take Cape town as England had a lot of units (and building/buying every turn) and i feel i can build all the "artist GPP" buildings in capital (and factory in both cities after that)
10) at first use all GP to make great works, in last 20 turn its better to spare your last artist for golden age and last writer to "one time bonus" (there wont be an immediate change of score, dont panic, you will get that culture at the end of the turn)
11) at turn 50, Portugal had peace with Zulu for couple of turns (they captured Ulundi; Zulu had only Umgun left), i already met Ethiopia and was about to meet Egypt and i was afraid Portugal will DOW me, but i was unable to bribe them to attack any of those two so i at least (after OB) denounced Ethiopia; every couple of turns i tried to bribe anybody against Ethiopia;
i lost Port Elis twice (and immediately recaptured) due to embarked riflemen; but i hold them at Cape Town and was building opera in all three towns (i left Port Elis as a puppet until i build Hermitage)
at 55 i captured Cape Town, it was recaptured by German melee ships (i had to DOW them to prevent joint Ger/Port attack), England finally agreed to peace; i took Cape town back and send pathetic German navy to the bottom of the ocean (well, in few turns
); i coudnt finish Hermitage i had to build some other military units to repel light German inland invasion (as i had to keep cannons to protect Cape town from German ships) luckily for me Portugal was not interested DOW me alone, they DOWed Ethiopia at turn 59 from this point no one could rly endanger me except Portugal
intermezzo at 60:, those ungrateful Zulu itches DOWed me, reload, bribe England to DOW them, no war with Zulu (for now, bcs they rly pissed me off)
from now it was quite a piece of cake; it was all about preventing war with Portugal and bribe everyone against Ethiopia (well, no one really harmed them, no one took any of their cities)
I finished Hermitage! (was lucky to get golden age like 1 turn before i finished it) and turned all my 3 major cities to culture (in "citizen management") and i kept it that way for the rest of the game (once other cities built culture building i switched them to culture too); i had 100 culture/turn (with golden age)
around 70 i had Swapokmund (German port) too and was ready to wipe out Zulu in one turn (deployed all the cannons and melee near city); 135 culture/turn (no GA); Ethiopia was 1000 points ahead of me
at 80, 4 cities had all culture building (and i start producing units, until this point i still had a relatively small army 6 cannons+6 riflemen, but i had 2 generals ready (from turn 50) to build citadels in east which would allowed me to def with this number of units), i manage to build hospitals in 3 (more population = more working farms = more culture; if your happines can take it; i made friends with Egypt and Morocco and gave them strategic resources for their luxury), fifth (Cape town) was building culture buildings (Swakopmund was no use, no farm around, just hills), Zulu were wiped out by me, Umgun still 3 turns civil unrest; 251 cult/turn; Ethiopia 3890, me 3180, it was clear i am closing the gap... and Portugal was still at war with them
at 90, still status quo (i dont mention some other Europeans attacks as they caused problems only to Swapokmund), i had 8 cannons + 10 riflemen, not even Portugal could hurt me; in fact i could easily take Ulundi and Sa da Bandeira (both close to shore but not ports) but i would have problems to defend my ports. Tho in case i needed couple of more points (but i didnt - 291cult/turn; Ethiopia 5002, me 4944), i could capture these cities (and hold my ports) like 2 turn left to raise my score
at 99, six fully cultured cities (and poor Swapokmund), i also poped golden age inbetween 90-99 and writer for one-timed 650 culture bonus, 308cult/turn, 15 cannons + 13 riflemen (and ironclad) me 6544, Ethiopia 5876
forget "no scouting": 1) If you manage to capture English port you will surely meet rest of the Europeans, soon. 2) you have to reach Ethiopia and at least Egypt to be able to bribe others (Portugal) to attack them (i was in red number whole game, but for some surplus luxury its possible)
If you not reach Ethiopia, Portugal will eat Zulu and turn on you. Even if they dont wipe Zulu out, they will make peace eventually. Its crucial avoid war with Portugal, other civs are manageable.
If you cant avoid war with Portugal, you cant hold captured English ports. You can survive but you will focus on culture too late. Go for Hermitage asap.
You need a lot of luck (which i hadnt).
I manage to capture Port Elis and Nobamba from English, I was about to capture Cape Town (around turn 50) and Portugal attacked me (they gave peace to Zulu few turns before). As i didnt scout Ethiopia and north Africa i coudnt bribe Portugal to attack someone else, i tried to reload few turns, but i just cant prevent the war against them. I had to give Port Elis to Germany (i had war with the rest of the Europe) bcs of the huge Portugal navy. I had three towns (Nobamba was small) Portugal attacked Zulu and wiped them out and I captured Umgun (kept it) and Ulundi (20 turns left) form Portugal, no peace... 12 turns left, i captured Portugal port (cant hold it tho) and inland city, but i am still trailing 900 points (behind Ethiopia; they captured Portugal city too), 160 culture/turn (i will get artist and writer in 95 turn). I could capture another Portugal city in few turns, but they just refusing to make peace (well, it wont help me now anyway).. maggots
late in the night i did, thx for the tips here, i tried what Halcyan2 did
1)forget about building ironworks and factory or military bulding or whatever for now...you need workshop and build 2 caravans to boost production, after that build 3 cannons right away (i built watermill and barracks too) and keep building rifleman and cannons; turn cities to production (in golden age switch to culture)¨
1a) building capital (or city where you plan to build GreatPeople buildings) on river is advantage bcs of Gardens GP bonus
2)If Portugal with England dont DOW Zulu, bribe them (first thing to do with your worker is to make luxuries working, so you have something to trade); at least make England to DOW Zulu and pray that Portugal wont DOW you; if you cant make it happen, restart/reload
2a) avoid war with Portugal at all cost
2b) you really need defensive (some mountains) terrain at least at one side; i could easily defend northwest and north (after taking Cape town - see 12), i was open only to Portugal on east)
3) dont let England to build city near you (inbetween their starting ports and your cities); you probably cant prevent Zulu from build a city near you without going to war with them
4) do not scout yet
5) if England didnt DOW you, lucky you, deploy your troops near Port Elis and capture it (i DOWed England at turn 18); i captured it in turn 25 (i had only 1 cannon near the city:/)
for some reason England sent only MOW (no Privateer, no ironclad) to Port Elis, they kept its defense on zero (so any melee unit could easily capture it) ergo you have to destroy any melee unit trying to reach it, on my map Zulu build Nobamba inbetween me and Englang, Englang capture it shortly after i DOWed them. you can open borders Zulu (even if they dont open their to you). I didnt build any citadel (towards Cape town to make it easier) at first bcs i was afraid Portugal would eventually DOW me and i need (i knew from previous try) 2 citadels immediatelly, preferably 3 (in the open terrain in the east), but eventually i had to, without it i would need many more units to capture Cape town (see 9)
6) after taking Port Elis build Lancer and send it to Ethiopia and Egypt (i sent 2 workers but they coudnt sneak and were captured), Europeans will find you soon via cargoships/ships. If you meet all Europeans, send Lancer to Morocco and Ottomans too
7) Halcyan2 was absolutely right about Europeans love to DOW jointly; so if it happens, reload and declare war to the farther of them (Belgium, Italy are the most harmless)
8) annex captured cities and build caravans in those cities to maximize production
9) at turn 34 i had 4 riflemen and 5 cannons and i dared to start building ironworks in capital; Portugal still at war with Zulu; at turn 40 i had Nobamba for couple of turns (annexed and caravans>monument>amphitheater>opera) and I switched to defense (i finally built the citadel towards Cape twon). i could hold them but not take Cape town as England had a lot of units (and building/buying every turn) and i feel i can build all the "artist GPP" buildings in capital (and factory in both cities after that)
10) at first use all GP to make great works, in last 20 turn its better to spare your last artist for golden age and last writer to "one time bonus" (there wont be an immediate change of score, dont panic, you will get that culture at the end of the turn)
11) at turn 50, Portugal had peace with Zulu for couple of turns (they captured Ulundi; Zulu had only Umgun left), i already met Ethiopia and was about to meet Egypt and i was afraid Portugal will DOW me, but i was unable to bribe them to attack any of those two so i at least (after OB) denounced Ethiopia; every couple of turns i tried to bribe anybody against Ethiopia;
i lost Port Elis twice (and immediately recaptured) due to embarked riflemen; but i hold them at Cape Town and was building opera in all three towns (i left Port Elis as a puppet until i build Hermitage)
at 55 i captured Cape Town, it was recaptured by German melee ships (i had to DOW them to prevent joint Ger/Port attack), England finally agreed to peace; i took Cape town back and send pathetic German navy to the bottom of the ocean (well, in few turns
); i coudnt finish Hermitage i had to build some other military units to repel light German inland invasion (as i had to keep cannons to protect Cape town from German ships) luckily for me Portugal was not interested DOW me alone, they DOWed Ethiopia at turn 59 from this point no one could rly endanger me except Portugalintermezzo at 60:, those ungrateful Zulu itches DOWed me, reload, bribe England to DOW them, no war with Zulu (for now, bcs they rly pissed me off)
from now it was quite a piece of cake; it was all about preventing war with Portugal and bribe everyone against Ethiopia (well, no one really harmed them, no one took any of their cities)
I finished Hermitage! (was lucky to get golden age like 1 turn before i finished it) and turned all my 3 major cities to culture (in "citizen management") and i kept it that way for the rest of the game (once other cities built culture building i switched them to culture too); i had 100 culture/turn (with golden age)
around 70 i had Swapokmund (German port) too and was ready to wipe out Zulu in one turn (deployed all the cannons and melee near city); 135 culture/turn (no GA); Ethiopia was 1000 points ahead of me
at 80, 4 cities had all culture building (and i start producing units, until this point i still had a relatively small army 6 cannons+6 riflemen, but i had 2 generals ready (from turn 50) to build citadels in east which would allowed me to def with this number of units), i manage to build hospitals in 3 (more population = more working farms = more culture; if your happines can take it; i made friends with Egypt and Morocco and gave them strategic resources for their luxury), fifth (Cape town) was building culture buildings (Swakopmund was no use, no farm around, just hills), Zulu were wiped out by me, Umgun still 3 turns civil unrest; 251 cult/turn; Ethiopia 3890, me 3180, it was clear i am closing the gap... and Portugal was still at war with them
at 90, still status quo (i dont mention some other Europeans attacks as they caused problems only to Swapokmund), i had 8 cannons + 10 riflemen, not even Portugal could hurt me; in fact i could easily take Ulundi and Sa da Bandeira (both close to shore but not ports) but i would have problems to defend my ports. Tho in case i needed couple of more points (but i didnt - 291cult/turn; Ethiopia 5002, me 4944), i could capture these cities (and hold my ports) like 2 turn left to raise my score
at 99, six fully cultured cities (and poor Swapokmund), i also poped golden age inbetween 90-99 and writer for one-timed 650 culture bonus, 308cult/turn, 15 cannons + 13 riflemen (and ironclad
) me 6544, Ethiopia 5876pictures of progress
the western part is easily defendable, even without Swapokmund the only entry to my teritorry was west of Nobamba and just two hills north (inbetween two Port cities
another hill entry north of Blom was easily defendable with first citadel (i didnt build it this game bcs of no war with Portugal, but i served perfectly previous game)
east was open to Portugal (well, not much bcs of the Zulu, Zulu woudnt allow OB to Portugal), once i wiped Zulu out it was more problematic but my i could build cannon every 2 turns in both major cities, in case of attack, i would just reload few turns, build more units, place citadel and tadaa
the western part is easily defendable, even without Swapokmund the only entry to my teritorry was west of Nobamba and just two hills north (inbetween two Port cities
another hill entry north of Blom was easily defendable with first citadel (i didnt build it this game bcs of no war with Portugal, but i served perfectly previous game)
east was open to Portugal (well, not much bcs of the Zulu, Zulu woudnt allow OB to Portugal), once i wiped Zulu out it was more problematic but my i could build cannon every 2 turns in both major cities, in case of attack, i would just reload few turns, build more units, place citadel and tadaa
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i got a pretty good terrain, victory was fairly easy
you can use my initial save
i dowed england from turn 1, before meeting anyone, so i didnt get warmonger penalty with other europeans. luckily zulus dowed england too so taking port elizabeth had became easier. plopped a citadel right to it (bought a strip of land earlier for this) what helped me alot too. then portugal dowed me and zulus stole my land so i made peace with england what allowed me to dow zulus and take ulundi. zulus are very easy to beat. after that, i was fighting portugal till the end of the game. some turns before the finish france and england declared on me too.
some tips:
1. dow england from start
2. use caravans to increase production
3. always fight someone, i was getting most of my culture from kills. also i think bribing people to dow on ethiopia is counterproductive as this will just give it more VPs even if it will lose some cities.
4. dont build gatlings. rifled cannons should comprise the very most of your military. keep em shooting at something to get double attack and range. idleness is lost VPs.
5. bombard all melee ships to low health at first, and then finish them off one by one: dont allow healthy ships to attack port elizabeth otherwise you'll lose it.
6. save great writers for political treatises couple of turns before the end.
you can use my initial save
i dowed england from turn 1, before meeting anyone, so i didnt get warmonger penalty with other europeans. luckily zulus dowed england too so taking port elizabeth had became easier. plopped a citadel right to it (bought a strip of land earlier for this) what helped me alot too. then portugal dowed me and zulus stole my land so i made peace with england what allowed me to dow zulus and take ulundi. zulus are very easy to beat. after that, i was fighting portugal till the end of the game. some turns before the finish france and england declared on me too.
some tips:
1. dow england from start
2. use caravans to increase production
3. always fight someone, i was getting most of my culture from kills. also i think bribing people to dow on ethiopia is counterproductive as this will just give it more VPs even if it will lose some cities.
4. dont build gatlings. rifled cannons should comprise the very most of your military. keep em shooting at something to get double attack and range. idleness is lost VPs.
5. bombard all melee ships to low health at first, and then finish them off one by one: dont allow healthy ships to attack port elizabeth otherwise you'll lose it.
6. save great writers for political treatises couple of turns before the end.
