Play With Me 2: Iroquois, Part 4 - The German War
Turn 56 - Plan of Assault
Let's take a closer look at Berlin. It's in a pretty defensible position between two rivers which means it's not gonna be a push-over. The easiest route of assault is to swoop around a bit from the north. This will prevent Bismarck from counter-attacking from Berlin and let me gobble up Hamburg a little bit more quickly. I'll post a more detailed tactics in a few turns when my horses arrive.
Bismarck left another barbarian camp unoccupied for me to clear. I wonder if the AI is farming barbs? Does it know to do that? Would surprise me but I guess it's possible.
Turn 57-59 - More culture? Meh
The game reminds me that I can choose a social policy. No, thanks, I say! I discover Kuala Lumpur and Bucharest to the north, two more cultural CS. Note that I might ally one of those for the luxury but I won't take a SP
Vienna, meanwhile, asks me to eliminate Copenhagen. This at least tells me that a maritime CS is somewhere in the vicinity, which is good news. It also tells me the same maritime CS might be attacked soon, which is even better news because liberating grants loads of free influence.
I am done scouting Germany, puny as it is. They have dyes and gold, two sweet luxuries for me to grab. I will end up razing Hamburg, but you should almost always puppet first to grab the land and profit a bit from the city.
I declare war on Bismarck now because otherwise he will ask me what my units are doing and I will have to suffer his first strike: I like declaring a turn in advance better. If I'm lucky, this will also lure out a few of his warriors. I could have sold him my furs but this is another exploit I won't take.
Turn 60
Warsaw is also up there, already allied with Siam. Too many cultural CS in this zero-culture game. Serves me right, I guess
This is the positioning of my horsemen. I will draw arrows detailing the plan of attack. The color tells you the order: Red is the first, Blue the second, Green the third and Teal the fourth. What makes horsemen so overpowered is that you can attack and retreat, which means I can funnel attacks from all four horses through this one tile where Berlin borders the river.
Turn 61 - Ich bin ein Berliner
I'm actually from Darmstadt but the Kennedy quote was too tempting
My scout, meanwhile, is gangraped by two German warriors. I insta-heal him to get another turn of distraction out of him.
I decide to beeline towards Construction now to unlock those Colosseums. Mining it is.
Berlin is taken by my horses within one turn. No chance for counter-attack for that warrior. The city didn't even get to shoot at one of my horsies. Cities are really pathetically weak in this game - I never even try to defend them but opt instead to lose and re-take them, usually with another unit inside. This is another good point for the zero-culture ICS variant because you will lose all culture buildings when a city is captured.
I now have the largest army of the world. Huzzah!
Turn 62
Both Askia and Augustus offer me mutual open borders but I decline. I don't see a reason until I want to scout them. My horses move into attack formation on Hamburg and my scout shenanigans worked well enough to distract the two warriors another turn so they will arrive only when it's already too late. I don't have mining yet so the worker on Berlin is told to build some trade posts until I can chop the forest with the dyes.
Turn 63
One of my horsemen is attacked by a German warrior, delaying his attack on Hamburg by one turn because he has to clean up the gory mess. The rest of the attack proceeds as planned, however.
Turn 64
One of my horses is killed by the archer. He didn't get his promotion directly but would have had to wait a turn. Rest in peace, my friend, your memory will forever be remembered. His mates enter a battle frenzy and capture Hamburg. I will let them heal before moving on Askia.
I will play around a bit with the Great Warpath: To connect Berlin, I should need no more than two road tiles if I settle the forest in-between. Not bad!
Turn 65
Onondaga finishes another settler. I will put him on spot 3, as planned. I'm not into unhappiness but no matter, that situation will be rectified when I build the first wave of Colosseums. The war against Askia will hopefully be happiness neutral by taking a luxury or two from him. Onondaga will build a replacement horseman, within 8 turns. I will save my money for now until I find Copenhagen.
Turn 68
I found Akwesasme, which starts on a worker. It won't grow to size 2 any time soon anyways and with the three workers I captured from Germany I have 4, still much too low for ICS. I will use my horses to scout a little bit, I really want to find Copenhagen. This reveals Caesar near to Berlin before long, who seems to be ill-disposed towards me. Maybe I should keep Askia as a friend? Rome is infinitely more dangerous at this point.
Turn 71
I find Siam to the south. I made up my mind to go for Augustus' throat. There is a nice patch of open land to what I presume is Rome where my horsemen can rule the land. I will declare on him and try to lure him into that death trap. Montezuma discovers me, he has a lot of money. Still no sign of Copenhagen.
Turn 73 - Monty, my best friend
Monty offers a pact of secrecy against Augustus which I gladly accept. Bucharest points out a barbarian encampment near Berlin to me which I will have to clear. I hooked up my dyes at the end of turn (forgot to manually do it so I can sell them immediately).
Turn 74
I sell one of the dyes to Montezuma for 300 gold. Onondaga finishes a horseman and starts on a library, Osininka turns out another settler (for spot 4, buying the marble tile when I settle) and follows suit.
Turn 75
The Pointy Stick rating shows Augustus in the lead, with Monty close behind and me following a bit later. I find Caesar moved a settler next to one of my horses. I hope he doesn't settle this turn as I only have the one horse there so I have to wait a turn for a second one to come in range.
Turn 76
Construction is finished. Augustus didn't even move his settler, which means I can destroy it before he can settle. Attack, my minions, attack!
I decide to go for Iron Working and Metal Casting now, later researching towards gunpowder. I want to try the longhouse. Ram ends our pact at the end of the turn because of my aggressive behaviour. I tell you, it's a pre-emptive strike!
Turn 77 - Buffalos, for me?
I settle Buffalo Creek and produce another settler. I will use him to settle a bit further east and north than I had initially planned in order to start connecting towards Germany. I decide on a nice spot near Osininka with Marble and Wheat. Buffalo Creek starts building a library.
Turn 78 - Suicide Legion
Caesar decides to dump another legion on my side of the river, which is immediately wiped out. Keep 'em coming, boy! I noticed Berlin started building a library out of its own volition - good thinking of the governor there, I like the guy.
Turn 79
Two more Legions. I get one, the other survives. I have to heal my horses a bit soon but got one reinforcement coming. Brantford is founded, putting me at -7 happiness. It starts with a Colosseum.
Turn 80 - A gift from Rome?
I retreat my injured horses out of the range of his Legion while I wonder why he escorts a worker. Is it for me to ease my improvement troubles? That would be awfully nice of Augustus. Seriously, I don't know what the programmers did there but it seems a bit of a problem to me that the AI does stuff like that so often. He will move the worker away next turn but if my horses hadn't been so hurt, that would've been one free worker for me. I move one of the German workers west to help develop my proper land a bit.
Turn 83 - Bribery
I pay Monty 230 gold to get in on the war against Caesar. I think it's a good investment and I still haven't found a maritime CS so don't have anything very important to do with the money. Onondaga finishes the Library and starts a Colosseum - time to get the happiness rolling in. I decide not to run any scientists yet. Harun al-Rashid finds me at the end of the turn, so I'm just missing one acquaintance.
Turn 85 - Counter-Attack
My horses are healed so I start a counter-attack on Rome. The problem is that crossing the river here is probably not a good idea so I have to look for a better spot. I set one over due north.
Turn 86 - More Suicide
Well he didn't know it but a human would have anticipated that sending a settler in the direction where three Legions were previously wiped out is probably not the brightest idea. It turns out I'm a bit too close to Rome - hope my horse survives the next turn. Akwesasme finishes a worker and starts on a colosseum.
Turn 87
Montezuma and Askia enter the middle ages. My horses take some damage, ballistae are overkill.
Turn 88
Where does he get all those Legions from, anyways? I decide to retreat behind the river again.
Turn 89
Iron Working is finished and I find a nice whopping 6 iron near Buffalo Creek. Fighting Barbarians unlocks my first Great General. I hope he will give me an edge against the Legions of Doom.
Turn 91 - To Set A Scheme In Motion
I decide to try something. Do you see this iron mine? If it's Rome's only source, and I pillage it, that should make sure his units all have a -50% combat modifier, rendering them pretty harmless. Worth a try, isn't it? The risk is small, too, because Horsemen can move after pillaging.
Turn 93 - The magic medicine worked!
Mwahahaha totally weak Legions. Looks like my plan worked. I never actually tried doing this before because the AI's amount of swordsmen or horses is usually not so huge to make it very worthwhile. Try to remember to keep an eye open for such opportunities, though! They can mean a huge difference. As it turns out, Caesar hadn't even gotten around to founding a second city thanks to my settler-killing and his henge-building (I'm really getting a lot of culture for a zero culture game). Well, that was easy. I think I will stop my conquering spree for now because I have ample of living space. Unless Monty or Askia attack me, that is.
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After a long hiatus, here is
Part 5