Bow to the pRNGods, foolish mortal!

tjs282 · Jun 11, 2015

This set starts with the end of my GA, leaving me with lots of cash in the box, but still no Iron hooked, because of a lack of Workers. I revolted immediately, and was lucky enough to draw a relatively short (4T) Anarchy period, but received extortion demands at the same time. By the time Republican order was restored, I was down >150g. And then more was spent on deals to keep my people happy and the AIs Polite and Gracious with me, and to make it worth their while not to DoW me, because I'm still really not in a good place military-wise. By the end of this set, I'd lost the Iron again to a border-expansion, and I'm still running to catch up with the mandatory techs, never mind the optionals. And I make a bad decision right on the last turn, which (although I don't know it yet) will cost me later...

T151-160, 360-450 AD

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T161-170, 460-550 AD

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T171-180, 560-650 AD

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tjs282 · Jun 20, 2015

T 180-190, 650-750 AD

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T 190-200, 760-850 AD

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T201-210, 860-950AD

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T 211-220, 960-1050 AD

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tjs282 · Jul 1, 2015

Summary to date (~T325, ~1650 AD)

In the late Middle Age, my major priority was to wrest 'my' Iron back from my neighbour's clutches, so that I no longer needed to depend on imports:

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My Knights, Maces and LBMs sweated blood, clawing their way (vs Muskets and then Rifles, because either Gil or Cathy had popped Nationalism as their Industrial-Age freebie, and then sold it around) across the western Russian Tundra and Grassland all the way to Moscow (which has 5 GWonders: MoM, SoZ, CopsObs, ShakesT, and GWall). I had no hope of taking Moscow (Pop13 by that point), so I bypassed it to go after Cathy's eastern cities. Then, shortly after Smolensk (captured) and an ex-Aztec Pop1 town (auto-razed) fell to my Knight-Army (leaving it at 2/13 HP), Gil RoPed and DoW'd me, took out my Army and Knight-stack using his Cavs, and captured Smolensk from us, all within a single turn.

In the meantime, Cathy had actually managed to capture Seoul by using a Galleon+Frig stack to land a lone Rifle (which killed my Musket!), so I wanted to get it back before I signed peace with her. That took a while (I had to recall+build more Knights and Hwachas first), but the PT (extorting MilTrad and Magnets) allowed me to concentrate fully on defending my Russian conquests from Summie incursions.

Fortunately the town directly east of Moscow is on a sort-of choke-point. By stacking all my obsolete units there behind Walls, and pillaging the eastern roads, I trapped the Summie Cavs before they could attack, and then killed them using bombardment (with a few Hwachas and a captured Russian Cannon) followed by Cav/ LBM/ Mace-attacks. Once the follow-up foot-units (Rifles+LBMs) appeared, that town was a much less attractive target than the un(der)defended towns behind it -- which they couldn't reach in 1T, allowing me to ping their troops as they advanced, and then use Cavs and Maces to knock them out piecemeal as they retreated.

Also fortunate, was that I got Steam as my Industrial-Age freebie, and had a spare Settler (built in anticipation of imminent Russian colonisation) to found a Coal-town on an ex-Sumerian/Russian 2-tile island just offshore of my ex-core. And I had a stack of about 18 Slaves sitting idle (retreated to Pusan when I got Steam), so once I'd rushed a Harbour there, I could get Rails to the front reasonably fast.

Here's the world at 1610AD:

But by the time I could sign peace with Gil (he'd brought in the Hittites as well), Moscow was defended by about half a dozen v+rInfs. So it stayed Russian for a long time after my next DoW, until I could pillage all its irrigation to starve it down to Pop6, decoy about half a dozen defenders out of it, and assemble large enough Arty- and Cav-stacks to have a halfway decent chance of taking it. When they did, they found the city an empty shell, apart from the GWonders -- Cathy had apparently sold or dismantled every last improvement to pay for its defence.

In the meantime, Gil had taken advantage of Cathy's distraction to DoW her as well, and grab 2 more of her cities -- and then 2T after Moscow finally fell to us, Gil took out Novgorod with an Inf-onslaught, and got the kill-credit :mad:

Partway through the Industrial, I suffered one other annoying setback:

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I'd got into the Industrial Age a long way behind Gandhi, Gil and Mursi, but beelined to SciMeth while (pre)building ToE. I took AtomTheory and Electronics as my freebies for tech-trading, waited 2T to waste everyone else's ToE-shields, then gleefully sold Electronics to Gandhi for a huge pile of cash (>1400g and >250GPT!). During the following IBT, I duly got the report that he was building Hoovers (in Jaipur, according to the F7 screen). (Gil started building it too, but the town he was using had no hope of beating Jaipur). Several turns later, I kicked myself when I noticed that I could build Hoovers in Moscow after all (it wasn't actually on a River, but a River bordered one cut-off corner of its BFC).

I'd only captured Moscow a couple of turns prior to that, and had been cash-rushing Slaves out of it. So I did a quick calculation of Jaipur's potential SPT, based on what I could see on the main map -- which turned out to be wrong, since I didn't account for them having built a CoalPlant there as well as a Factory, but never mind -- and decided I could probably still beat them to Hoovers after all. I disband-rushed a Lib, CH, Harbour, and Factory in Moscow (didn't need a Market, because it had MoM and ShakesT), pumped it up to Pop14 over the same 4T, and set all my Slaves to railing and mining its tiles. My Hoover-build time was down to ~18T when Jaipur completed it, about 15T ahead of the schedule I'd estimated.

I immediately recalculated Jaipur's potential SPT assuming a CoalPlant, which showed that even at 36SPT, they still shouldn't have been able to accumulate enough shields to build Hoovers that quickly, so I reloaded a save from just before the tech-sale (in 1620 AD) to figure out how the hell they'd done it. I paid to investigate the city, and discovered this:

Jaipur had been 2T short of building Battlefield-Medicine (320s for an Emp-Level AICiv, i.e. there was 250-284s in the box) when I sold Electronics to Gandhi -- another 10T (=350s) was enough to get them Hoovers (600s for an Emp-level AICiv) instead :wallbash:

Admittedly, I hadn't actually checked which Indian city had been building ToE (I didn't note it in my turnlog), but it was most likely Jaipur, and Ghandi had then switched to BfMed when he lost the ToE-race.

(On the bright side, I was able to use the Hoover-shields to (pre)build UN instead, shortly after I sold Fission to Gandhi for another large pile of cash...

)

tjs282 · Aug 20, 2015

Actually finished and won this game over a month ago, but server migration+holiday (with low-speed WLAN in holiday-house) prevented final uploads -- of which there are many potential.

My clever and canny Korean people finally blasted off to Alpha Centauri in 1918 AD (T424) -- a dreadfully late date, due to some major setbacks.

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Several important lessons were learnt during this game. Although my starting position quickly turned out to be a lot poorer than it looked at first glance, with very little room for a decent core, very little flatland within that space, and the nearest freshwater a long way away, I also compounded those problems by expanding too slowly. If I had secured the nearest (sole) Iron-tile well within my borders before my nearest neighbours had got there, I could have begun expanding against them a lot sooner than I did.

Another thing to bear in mind for future games is that Small Wonders should also be taken into account during GWonder-cascades, especially during the Industrial Age, when many SWonders become available (MilAcad, WallSt, BatMed, IntelAg, possibly also IronWorks and SPHQ) for use as shield-banks/'prebuilds' by the AI. It would be safest in future games, not only to properly investigate cities building GWonders (that I want) immediately after the pop-up appears, but also to assume that even if an AICiv is beaten to a GWonder, they still have a potential SWonder-build up their sleeve, which in turn needs to be wasted before GWonder-techs are sold...

As far as military campaigning went, I did pretty well, considering that I was playing from (a long way) behind for most of the game. My Hwach'as' lethal-bombardment capability never made any decisive difference to any battle, but I was very glad to have them when I got DoW'd by a Cav-toting nation -- especially where I could control a choke-point. Although next time, I will be a lot quicker to upgrade them once I get to RepParts.

The main thing that I think I did right during this game was trading: using the Commercial strength of the Koreans to pay for strategic alliances and techs with gold, and keep my rivals at each others' throats (and in low-WW govs) and (later on) keeping them poor by selling techs, rather than allowing them to gang up on me, or race ahead as Republics/Democracies.

The following Spoiler covers a map of final extent of the glorious Korean Republic

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and several savegames (including the last one) are below...

tjs282 · Sep 1, 2015

Late in the Koreans game, I happened to glance (again) over the Civ-reviews posted by Ision et al., and saw that the Koreans had been rated as '3rd-tier'.

So having won with them at Emp, from a fairly marginal start, I decided to bite the bullet, and up the difficulty to Demigod for my next All-Random game, even though I technically haven't won the '3 [Emp] games in a row' that I originally proposed when I started this thread.

That game is already underway, and I will post an update shortly...

tjs282 · Nov 6, 2015

Yeah, so much for the 'post update shortly' -- or not, as the case might be!

Having started this next game in my Random-everything series back in August-September (on my shiny new box), I then got sidetracked playing several Standard-size Monarch-level games (on the old laptop), including my first GotM-submission :woohoo:

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Even though my result wasn't that great, I have to say, Monarch does now feel like something of a fish-barrel shoot :king:

___

___

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So I guess I must be improving after all (famous last words)...

So now, finally, I'll get back to this one, and probably get :hammer2:

'd instead...

Game setup
Map-size = Small
All other map-settings = Random
Opponents = Random
Barbs = Raging
AI Aggression = Normal
Rules applied = Mostly default, Cultural-linkage switched off
VCs enabled = Dom, Conquest, Cultural, Space, Diplo, Histo
Difficulty = DemiGod *gulp*

CivAssistII will be used throughout

DG-level stats:
Human OCN = 0.7 x normal (16 x 0.7 = 11 for Small)
Human combat-bonus vs. Barbs = 25%
AICiv starting units (in addition to normal 1 Settler, 1 Worker, 1 Scout for EXP):

1 extra Settler
2 extra Workers
3 Attackers, 6 Defenders (NB Germans get Archers and Spears!)

AICiv unit support = 12 free plus 3 per city
AICiv cost factor = 0.7 (i.e. 30% discount on everything: food, production, research)
AICiv-AICiv trade ratio = 160

And this time, the pRNGods have decreed that we will play as Byzantium (renamed as 'Playa'; SCI+SEA), with a coastal Floodplain start:

GA-Wonders:
SEA: Colossus (Bronze), GLight, Magellan, Smiths
SCI: GLib, Newtons, ToE, Cancer, Longevity,
SEA+SCI: MoM (Philo), Internet

UU: Dromon
Replaces Galley (needs Mapmaking)
A/D/M=2/1/4
Carries 2 units
Also has bombard: B/R/F=2/1/2 -- lethal at sea, also possibly(?) vs. land units

Basic plan:
Spam Warriors for offence/ defence/ MP on land, max. 1 Spear per town (if that), build a couple of Curraghs (M=3 because SEA) for fast coastal exploration, more if we are on a small island, then Dromons (upgrade Curraghs if possible) for attack/transport. Aim for naval superiority at early stage (cf. Theo's Excellent Always War Sid Adventure) -- or at least effective naval blockades if on Pan- or Cont-map

Use max. SCI% to start with, go for slingshot, (pre)build MoM, or Colossus+GLib. Aim for Space (again!) if we're on a Continent, UN if smaller Island (or Arch), probably Dom/Conquest (again!) if Pangaea.

Starting position
Looks good for Colossus -- that Wheat will certainly be good for growth, but Flood-starts are usually not so good for SPT, so may need to use capital as Settler-pump, and/or whip stuff while I'm still in Despotism. No Luxes visible in BFC, though... :sad:

Just south of the Equator, but north of a river -- with Coast to the SW and SE and Hills to the west, I think I'd rather that my Cap was south of that river, just in case I've got someone unfriendly to the north. Towns on the Hills will shield the cap from the northern and western approaches as well, but only the western town will likely grow well.

And off we go...

T 0, 4000 BC
Worker sent to road+irrigate Wheat-Flood (1+3+4T), revealing a small bay and more land to the south
Settler sent to coastal Flood 1SW of start-point, for a more central location to the prospective 1st-ring

tjs282 · Nov 6, 2015

Turns 1-20:

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Turns 22-30:

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Turns 31-38:

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tjs282 · Nov 12, 2015

Since I'm currently up to Turn 100 in this game -- and am not sure whether it's worth continuing -- I really ought to update this thread...

At some point between Turns 33 and 43, I met the last two Civs -- my Curragh ended up outside the 5th Civ's cities (on the NW coast), and the 6th Civ sent a unit over our borders.

Turns 43-50

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Turns 51-60

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Turns 61-70

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tjs282 · Nov 14, 2015

Turns 71-80

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Turns 81-90

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Turns 91-100

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State of the nation, 550 BC:

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tjs282 · Dec 5, 2015

In this 50T, I got totally left behind technologically. I have just about finished getting the 1st tier of Mid-Age techs (having been pretty much forced to grind my way excruciatingly slowly through Engineering). In the meantime, the AICivs have raced through this Age's tech-tree, already having researched nearly every tech and built nearly every GWonder. None of them have yet hit the Industrial, but it can't be far off...

For added insult, it was one of the most backwards of them that built the GLib. Capturing that would get me almost all the way through the Mid-Age in one go, but I don't know where it is: the GLib-city is still fogged-out on my World Map.

Expansion-wise, things aren't much better. I did found 2 more (2nd-ring) towns in the few gaps that my neighbours had left me (circa 550 BC), but one is a high flip-risk, and the other is (still) surrounded by Jungle. As of this post (350 AD), my capital has long since reached Pop12, and can regrow from Pop11 in 4T. So I have spent (and am still spending) pop-points to build native Workers to road+clear the mass of Jungle and road+mine the multiple Hills around my start position, and to boost the slower-growing 1st-ring towns. This is finally starting to pay off: most of my core towns are now at least Pop7+, with some decent infrastructure. But I am still seriously hurting for gold/income.

This is mainly due to my lack of trade opportunities and high military costs: I have only 2 Incense, no Iron or Horses of my own, and no Iron visible in my immediate vicinity, so I have been investing a lot of shields (and maintenance) into quantity over quality. One of my immediate neighbours deigned to sell me some of their Horses (and various Luxes) for 40T of this set, so I have actually managed to keep everyone happy, and get my military to AVERAGE vs 3/5 of my rivals, but sadly the 2 remaining 'STRONG' Civs are the ones whose cities I most need to remove, to make room for my own 2nd-ring.

Using my newly built Horsemen, I could reach several of those cities in 1T, with the greatest priority probably being the one with Horses in it, and Spices near it (both of which I am currently paying for) -- and without ACavs to defend it! I will probably have to do that very soon, but it would be very much preferable if the AICiv in question attacked me (for the WH, to replace the Lux-loss), rather than me having to attack them.

That said, so far none of the AICivs on the map have yet shown any particular inclination to fight amongst themselves -- but given my backwardness, if any of them change their minds, I will most likely be chosen as the first target. My best option may actually be to pre-empt a DoW by making one myself: a strategic MA against the AICiv on the other side of the map, may be in order...

Turns 100-110

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Turns 111-120

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Turns 121-130

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Turns 131-140

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Turns 141-150

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tjs282 · Dec 16, 2015

This is where I began living in interesting times.

Around Turn 160, I finally got DoW'd by a teched-up neighbour and his ally(s). At enormous expense, I bought in two of my other neighbours in order to survive (and hopefully weaken my allies). Partway through the war, I deliberately started my GA -- not ideal timing, but I needed the extra SPT and CPT to save my butt. By the time the dust had settled, I'd suffered 1 city-loss (culture-flipped to an ally, not captured), but one (enemy) civ was out of the running (eaten by my monster-civ ally), and a second civ (my other ally) was struggling.

Having let the MAs run their course, I cancelled them honorably and gave the GPT to my aggressors instead (for PTs). I spent the remainder of my GA building units, then turned on my former ally, who had ended up at the bottom of a dogpile, and was already starting to lose towns. As of Turn 200, I'm making good headway: I've razed + replaced 2 of his cities so far, and am poised to found another couple of towns within his borders. I should be able to take a little more of his turf before WW forces me to sign a PT (or he dies).

Even then, I will still be (far) behind in every respect (tech, territory, military strength, wealth, culture), so I don't have much hope of winning this game before someone launches (Ship or Nukes), but I'm going to play it out as far as I can, for the practice.

Turns 151-160

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Turns 161-170

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Turns 171-180

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Turns 181-190

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Turns 191-200

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tjs282 · Apr 10, 2016

At last, some updates...

I eventually abandoned the Byzzie game. Although I survived as far as Turn 363, and even made it as far as the mid-Industrial,

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had got there loooong before me. From about T250 onwards, his

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across the entire continent, demolishing all the remaining opposition.

I had started Settling into the gaps that he'd left, prioritising Resource tiles, but this was more desperation than any kind of coherent empire-building plan, and I had insufficient military to defend any given point where he might choose to attack. So I was basically living on sufferance, and I did not expect to survive much longer, let alone be able to win the game. My 'I quit' point came 5T after my rival had built the Internet, and the first border-pop from all his freebie Res-Labs had severely diminished the amount of remaining colonisable space. Here's what the minimap looked like in 1796 AD:

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The last savegame is also attached.

Overall, I was certainly caught off guard by how fast the AI expands at this level -- that extra Settler seems to make a huge difference. That said, I didn't leverage my start position very well. With hindsight, the coastal Hill next to the Incense might have given me a better start, and would have allowed more 1st-ringers.

Still, for a first stab at DG, it wasn't a bad effort. Certainly beat hell out of my second attempt, and the third attempt's not going so great either... (see below...)

tjs282 · Apr 10, 2016

Having neglected this thread for several months while playing various other Civ3 games

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... I finally decided make another attempt at DG.

The first game I rolled took only an hour and a half from start to finish (including turn-logging and planning a 1st-ring)...

Map: Small, all-Random
Barbs RESTLESS
AI-aggression NORMAL
AI-respawn OFF
Culture-linked starts OFF

The pRNGods assigned me as the Inca (AGRI+EXP).

Start-techs: Pottery and Masonry, so Palace and Pyramids are available immediately as (pre)builds
UU: Chasqui Scout (1/1/2, ignores Hill+Mountain move-cost, but costs 20s)

AGRI-Wonders: HGard, Pyramids, Hoover, UniSuff, CfC
EXP-Wonders: Colossus, GLIght, CopsObs, MagVoy, SETI
Both: Internet

Here's where I started:

Pre-game plan:

AGRI means expansion shouldn't be a problem, and I can also hook up Ivory early. Ivory = SoZ = ACavs, so I wouldn't have to spend a lot of shields building military during the AA. However, I'll need Alph before I can start on Maths , and it's unlikely that anyone will sell it to me (for a fair price...), so that's my first research priority; once Alph's in and I've got 2-3 towns up, I'll start (pre)building SoZ. But first I need those towns. So let's build a town with a Gran (whipped/chopped if need be), spew out Settlers, and pop as many huts as possible using Chasquis, then kill all the neighbours...

(And the turnlog shows how that worked out for me...)

T 0, 4000 BC
Settler 1SW to Grass
Worker begins road
Scout 2E -- there's a river visible... First mistake of the game, should have scouted first
IBT

T1-10

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T11-20

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Ouch. I didn't make even a single savegame since 4000 BC.

tjs282 · Apr 10, 2016

Take 2...

And this time I get Portugal (EXP + SEA)

Start-techs: Alph (=Good chance for Writing+Philo-freebie, even if not the full Rep-sling at DG) + Pottery
UU: The Carrack (A/D/M=2/2/4 -- actually M=5, because SEA gives +1MP), replaces the Caravel (A/D/M=1/2/4, trans.cap.=3, cost 40s, needs Astro) but is safe on Ocean tiles

SEA Wonders: MoM, Smiths,
EXP-Wonders: CopsObs, SETI
Both: Colossus, GLight, MagVoy, Internet

Start looks a little better than the Inca game: at least this time I have a river...

(Not sure why that blotch of unfogged map showed up on the mini-map -- I couldn't see it on the main map-screen, until my first ship got there later. It's possibly a holdover-glitch, due to my having rolled this map immediately after losing the Inca game -- the blotch looks like the equivalent tile-positions that I'd managed to explore on the previous map, before Hiawatha killed me...)

Not confident on this one at all, though. The Portuguese appear to be generally considered (on CFC!) to be (one of) the weakest civ(s), not least because their 2 civ strengths are so uncomplimentary, i.e. SEA's great on Arch-maps, but EXP isn't -- and vice versa. I rolled over them (eventually) in the Byzzie DG-game, and they also presented no obstacle to any of the AIs (or me) in the recent Celtic CotM (on a Standard-size Pan-map)...

So what do I focus on? Obviously I want to get some 3-MP Curraghs out ASAP to make overseas trading contacts, but I also need to claim territory -- especially if I've rolled another Pan-map.

It occurred to me later on during the Byzzie game that trying to found rings at CxxC moving outwards from my Cap, as if I was still at Monarch/Emp, was not so smart. This left me too little territory claimed during the first rush -- and no chance to build much if any of the planned 2nd ring. So I'm going to try something different this time: build my first ring proper at distance 4-5 (CxxxC to CxxxxC), and then once I've got the territory claimed, backfill it with ICS'd towns that may/ will be disbanded later. Hopefully this should make up for the fast AI-expansion -- if I can grab land fast enough...

T 0, 4000 BC
Scout goes west
001 Lisbon founded on the spot, Axe+Scout+Curragh queued (5+5+8T, Pop2 in 10T)
Worker sent to irrigate+road Wheat-Plains (1+4+3T)
IBT
Research set to Writing (50T at SCI%=10, +4GPT)

tjs282 · Apr 10, 2016

Turns 1-20

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Turns 21-40

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Turns 41-50

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Stopped here, because things are about to get 'interesting'. Or terminal...

CELTICEMPIRE · Apr 12, 2016

Just found this story, looks cool :cool:

! I'm glad to see that this subforum isn't dead!

tjs282 · Apr 12, 2016

CELTICEMPIRE said:
Just found this story, looks cool ! I'm glad to see that this subforum isn't dead!

Another viewer! Yay! :bounce:

No, the forum isn't dead, but this game might be...

Turns 51-60

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Turns 61-70

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So right now, things are not looking hopeful: following my first war, I've lost most of my military and also 2 towns -- including the one that was hooked to Wines, my only Lux -- so I'm (back) down to 2 towns. The only consolations are, I didn't lose any of my Workers or Slaves, and I also still have a couple of Archers left. And the really good news: my Philo-beeline paid off, netting me 2 monopoly techs, which I was able to use to end the war, and then catch up with everyone I know. And I still have a boat out exploring, looking for a(nother) sea route to the next continent, so I should have more contacts for tech-trading soon...

Also, my erstwhile enemy isn't much better off -- they lost some valuable units, and one of the towns they captured; although they still hold my Wines-town, it's not (yet) hooked to their road network, so it does them little good... And even though I haven't Iron or Horses readily available, neither do they -- so if I can buy one or both of those from my northern neighbour, my next war on the southern front won't be so one-sided. In the meantime, I'll need to spam Settlers and Axes while I save cash for upgrades.

Of course, if my northern neighbour decides any time in the next 10-20T that he'd rather have my towns than my money, there's not much that I'll be able to do to stop him...

tjs282 · Apr 18, 2016

I started this set of turns fully expecting to shortly be reporting another embarrassing defeat. Indeed, as my southern neighbour started pouring troops onto my remaining land shortly after making our peace deal, I was about this close -->||<-- to just giving up, and rolling another start. But I waited for a bit, and was glad I did. This massive invasion force (which could quite easily have wiped me off the board at that point) instead turned out to be aimed not at me, but at my northern neighbour's southernmost town (which has Iron and Dyes in its immediate vicinity). That town has been subject to multi-unit assaults from both sides over the past 10T or so, changing hands once so far. And the war should put a big dent in relations between my neighbours. What a reprieve!

Even better, my northern neighbour has sold me some Iron, so I can now start building Swords. (Although with hindsight, buying Iron so soon may have been a mistake -- I should probably rather have built (more) Raxes and Axes first, and then upgraded them -- but I wanted to make sure I secured a source without having to DoW for it: I want to wipe out my southern neighbour first, before deciding what to do with the northern one).

In the meantime, an unsinkable suicide-Curragh has given me a much better idea of the world's geography, and contacted another overseas neighbour, whose tech-progress is poorer than mine. (I also know roughly where the 6th AICiv is, but I haven't been able to send another Curragh in their direction yet -- the current explorer may contact them later...). Checking the Diplo-screen shortly after contact also showed that my nearest overseas neighbour still has not yet contacted my continental neighbours. So tech-brokering will be a definite possibility on this map, at least until Astro comes in.

So things may be looking up.

Turns 70.5-80

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Turns 81-90

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And the latest save is below.

tjs282 · Apr 23, 2016

Actually played two sessions for this set of turns, so I'll give the broad overview for both here, but split the turnlogs into 2 posts.

Felt like I was walking a tightrope during these turns, as most of the AICivs start to pull away from me in tech. I did finally manage to buy my way into the Mid-Age (second last -- one of the Civs on the other major Continent is still more backward than me), but I'm still stuck in Despotism because I can't afford to buy either of the AA-Gov techs (Republic for preference). Now kicking myself for not pursuing the Rep-sling when I had the chance...

I made a deal with my northern neighbour for Iron+Wines in the early part of this block, but a DoW vs him from the nearest overseas Civ appeared to break it (I think he must have been exporting through his attacker's coastal waters), so I was forced to go back to building Axes and Archers. I then started saving up cash for upgrades, but just before I was ready to make the deal, my northern and southern neighbours --who had been hammering away at each other for about 50T -- finally made peace, and I discovered on the following turn (to my horror) that my former Iron-supplier had just sold off all his reserves.

My unit-costs were getting nasty, so I also built a few more Settlers and ICS'd some towns-to-be-disbanded-later-if-I-survive within the territory I already hold.

But I really need to get hold of some Iron -- my neighbours are already fielding Maces and Pikes, and Chivalry's also been discovered, so it won't be long before someone's built a stack of Knight-equivalents. So at this point in the game I have massed troops (the few Swords I managed to build, a stack of Archers, plus some Cats) near my northern border, and I am stiffening up my sinews, to push the button vs the Iron+Dyes town that my southern neighbour failed to hold onto earlier...

Turns 91-100

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Turns 101-110

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tjs282 · Apr 23, 2016

Turns 111-120

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Turns 121-134

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Current WMap, including my territory (purple):

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War-plan (such as it is):

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The last savegame I made is attached below (if anyone wants to have a go at it): the war is due to start in 2T, once the mining Slave-stack is clear of the front, and the second Settler is ready to go forwards and found a new coastal town.

My next post will most likely either consist of me crowing over my famous victory, or reporting utter defeat, and game-abandonment...

Bow to the pRNGods, foolish mortal!

Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Zulu Conqueror

Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Stone \ Cold / Fish

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Stone \ Cold / Fish

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