Caluin
Chieftain
Greetings fine gentlemen and gentle-ladies. I'm bored at work, so thought I'd recount to you my first game of CivRev while playing on Deity for your reading enjoyment. I know that I find great pleasure in reading other people's games, especially in the CivIV forums, so thought I'd attempt to return the favour. But first, a bit of back story. I'll make it fast.
I've been playing the demo for about a month. I live in the US, so only recently picked up the game. Since I had been playing the demo, utilizing the mega-city strats, the rush&conquer tactics, and even attempting a cultural victory, I felt pretty confident in my abilities. So, I immediately took a plunge and my first game was set to 'Deity.'
I chose a random leader to play as, and was given Ghandi of the Indians. Not familiar with his traits, I looked him up and formulated a game plan to go into the match. Make a few warriors first, find a few good spots with rich resources for cities (preferably 2+ per city), then try to pump settlers to make a mega-city. If need be, switch to Fundamentalism once in Medieval era and stomp out anyone who got too big for their britches.
With that general frame work, my match began. Almost immediately my first warrior found a perfect spot for a mega-city. Centralized, only two avenues for attack, lots of coastal areas, a gold mine and dye in the starting tiles, and coal accessible with a Courthouse. I made it a point to settle it immediately.
Delhi cranked out a Settler, knocking them to one population. That very same turn, after my settlers moved off, barbarians moved next to Delhi and I hadn't bothered to leave any warriors to defend it. Crap! In a stroke of luck, I had just finished teching Iron Working and grabbed the free Legion, squashing the puny blowgun users. My game had almost ended before I began!
A few centuries fly by, and I quickly meet my neighbors. My soon to be mega-city, Madras, settled within five tiles of the Russian capital. They controlled the western lands, and were already expanding. To the east of me were the Mongolians, and my warriors were quickly working to clear the area out of barbarian villages to deny them the free cities. From somewhere up north, Cleopatra was sending caravans by the dozens, but never to my cities.
I had just finished up settling my third city in some mountains (next to a uranium mine) when Catherine started it. She demanded something from me, I can't exactly remember what, but I do remember telling her to go shove it. That started a war, obviously. That same turn, Cleopatra also declared war, but didn't bother to demand any tech. Guess she just hated me. Oh well, at least the Mongolians didn't join in on the dog pile.
Oh, wait, they did exactly two turns later. Demanded 95% of my treasury for 4 turns of peace... pft, nuts to that. Who says you can't fight and win a war on three fronts? So, I abandoned my plans for a mega-city and went all out defense. At the time, my army consisted of a single archer in each of my three cities, a Legion army near Mongolian lands, and scattered Warriors. One warrior (not warrior army) had beaten down five barbarian villages, so he was rather special to me with his two upgrades.
First order of business was shoring up the defense. Spending what little money I had, I quickly turned each archer unit into an army. Then I cranked out Legion armies and turned all available research into military techs. From this point on, I was full out war. Until the game was practically over, I didn't have another chance to research 'peaceful' techs.
The first up to die were the Mongolians. I can respect declaring war because someone didn't give tribute. I can also respect going to war for no real reason other than to just say 'hi.' But to declare war when someone is already engaged for the sole purpose of kicking an old, peace loving man while he's down is low. Genghis Khan was, quite literally, steam rolled by a single Legion army, backed up by an Archer army. Catherine was unlucky, since I had two production cities right near her border. She held out for awhile, but once the catapults rolled on to her capital, she had no chance. Cleopatra held out the longest, for the sole reason that I had quite a distance to cover. She too, eventually fell, but by the time I was hitting her capital, she had pikemen. Unlucky for her, I had infiltrating, marching catapults backed up by a Great General.
Now, the point of this thread, and what makes this particular game unique. By the time those three were defeated, the year was probably 1400 AD. Astute readers might have noticed that I haven't yet mentioned who my fourth opponent was.
This is because I hadn't met them yet.
That's right, I still had one mystery opponent out there. I checked the 'Who's Winning' graphs, and noticed that whomever it was had a significant tech lead on me, but we were tied on economical check points. I had a very small cultural lead, but since most of my empire was conquered cities with no temples or cathedrals, that really wasn't surprising.
So, I created some Cruisers and explored the ocean. It didn't take me long to find out what was going on.
On a small island out in the ocean were the Japanese with only two cities. On the northern part of the island stood Tokyo, 29 population strong with only four tiles not being coastal. Across a one tile land-bridge was his second city, 17 population. Tokyo had, from what I could tell, the Great Wall and Hanging Gardens. Possibly others, I couldn't tell or can't remember.
Tokyo had, at first count, two submarines guarding their harbor. I had just barely gotten to Cruisers. Tokyo had a population of 29. My 'mega-city', Madras, had a population of 12. There was no telling how many units resided inside the city, but I saw at least the flag for a Great Scientist and a Great Thinker.
Change of game plan. I saw that I could tech Steel, so decided that Battleships out classed Submarines. Thinking I could choke the city (My CivIV experience influencing me), I decided that I would tech up to tanks and artillery, take the southern city, then blockade Tokyo. Then I would send in bunches of Spy Rings to sabotage, then ultimately conquer, Tokyo.
It was a good plan, in theory. During this time of searching for Japan, I also came across Atlantis. Atlantis in the 1700's will give you really good techs. Battleships came out quickly, and with a budding economy and spare cruisers, I quickly stormed the southern city and started in on a blockade. Only riflemen greeted me, and my newly found tank armies (I timed Leo's Workshop to complete the exact turn after Combustion was tech'd) rolled into his city. Rushed a wall in the city to prevent culture flip, and then started the blockade.
Tokyo was able to produce enough hammers to pump out three battleships every two turns. Three. Every two turns. Do you know how hard it is to blockade a almost pure coastal city when they constantly push out Battleships that sink yours? It's insane!
Eventually, at the cost of my entire treasury, I was able to slip in a cruiser to the last coastal tile next to Tokyo. With no place for the Battleships to spawn, Tokyo could no longer produce naval forces. I then punched out cheap Cruisers to blockade the BFC, using my tank armies to blockade the land tiles. My plan was almost ready, when I checked the date. 1950AD. Only roughly 50 turns left, to my estimate. Had to make this victory fast. Tokugawa was close to the Space Race victory. Just a few turns earlier it was announced that he had tech'd Space Flight, but with only one city I figured it'd be awhile before he could build the ship.
I sent in my first Spy Ring, thinking to sabotage his defenses and conquer him with sheer firepower. My Spy Ring was attack power 3. Tokugawa had a Spy Ring defending with defense of 4.5. Loyalty + Veteran made it practically impossible for me to push them out. I threw 8 spy rings at him before I simply gave up.
I pressed the attack with my favourite tank army. Remember the Warrior from early in the game that had beaten all those Barbarians? Yeah, he might be old now, but he drives a tank and knows how to use it. Attack Power of roughly 120ish, can't remember exact value (Vet + Infiltration + Battleship Fleet Support + Great General - should be around 140, yes?).
He got mauled. Bad. Modern Infantry ate him alive. Loyalty and Vet bonuses and walls were simply destructive.
So I attacked again. This time, the Japanese Infantry had a Great General behind them. I lost.
Sent my mobile artillery at them, thinking I'd had at least hurt them badly enough to finish them off. Lost again.
At this point, all I really had were defensive units, so I quickly created another army and rushed it to the front lines. Sent another batch of tanks, thinking there was no way I could be this unlucky. Watched in horror as the Japanese Infantry had suddenly doubled in defense power. Guess who had just promoted his units with Leadership?
Can't infiltrate via spies.
Can't storm due to OP Infantry.
Can't culture flip. Might have time for a Culture Victory, but would have to rush a fair number of Wonders.
Japanese only turns away from launching a space ship using a single, 31 population city.
Only one recourse left to me.
I burned a Great Builder and rushed the Manhatten Project. Nuked poor, beautiful, illustrious Tokyo into the ground. What once was the #1 city in the world, and the only city not under my control, suddenly found itself at a 2 population with no troops defending it.
So. Here's why this thread was created in 'Strategy and Tips' subforum.
Don't ever stop exploring the world.
Now I want to play a game as the Japanese and see if I can get a Mega-City built with only one feeding city...
I've been playing the demo for about a month. I live in the US, so only recently picked up the game. Since I had been playing the demo, utilizing the mega-city strats, the rush&conquer tactics, and even attempting a cultural victory, I felt pretty confident in my abilities. So, I immediately took a plunge and my first game was set to 'Deity.'
I chose a random leader to play as, and was given Ghandi of the Indians. Not familiar with his traits, I looked him up and formulated a game plan to go into the match. Make a few warriors first, find a few good spots with rich resources for cities (preferably 2+ per city), then try to pump settlers to make a mega-city. If need be, switch to Fundamentalism once in Medieval era and stomp out anyone who got too big for their britches.
With that general frame work, my match began. Almost immediately my first warrior found a perfect spot for a mega-city. Centralized, only two avenues for attack, lots of coastal areas, a gold mine and dye in the starting tiles, and coal accessible with a Courthouse. I made it a point to settle it immediately.
Delhi cranked out a Settler, knocking them to one population. That very same turn, after my settlers moved off, barbarians moved next to Delhi and I hadn't bothered to leave any warriors to defend it. Crap! In a stroke of luck, I had just finished teching Iron Working and grabbed the free Legion, squashing the puny blowgun users. My game had almost ended before I began!
A few centuries fly by, and I quickly meet my neighbors. My soon to be mega-city, Madras, settled within five tiles of the Russian capital. They controlled the western lands, and were already expanding. To the east of me were the Mongolians, and my warriors were quickly working to clear the area out of barbarian villages to deny them the free cities. From somewhere up north, Cleopatra was sending caravans by the dozens, but never to my cities.
I had just finished up settling my third city in some mountains (next to a uranium mine) when Catherine started it. She demanded something from me, I can't exactly remember what, but I do remember telling her to go shove it. That started a war, obviously. That same turn, Cleopatra also declared war, but didn't bother to demand any tech. Guess she just hated me. Oh well, at least the Mongolians didn't join in on the dog pile.
Oh, wait, they did exactly two turns later. Demanded 95% of my treasury for 4 turns of peace... pft, nuts to that. Who says you can't fight and win a war on three fronts? So, I abandoned my plans for a mega-city and went all out defense. At the time, my army consisted of a single archer in each of my three cities, a Legion army near Mongolian lands, and scattered Warriors. One warrior (not warrior army) had beaten down five barbarian villages, so he was rather special to me with his two upgrades.
First order of business was shoring up the defense. Spending what little money I had, I quickly turned each archer unit into an army. Then I cranked out Legion armies and turned all available research into military techs. From this point on, I was full out war. Until the game was practically over, I didn't have another chance to research 'peaceful' techs.
The first up to die were the Mongolians. I can respect declaring war because someone didn't give tribute. I can also respect going to war for no real reason other than to just say 'hi.' But to declare war when someone is already engaged for the sole purpose of kicking an old, peace loving man while he's down is low. Genghis Khan was, quite literally, steam rolled by a single Legion army, backed up by an Archer army. Catherine was unlucky, since I had two production cities right near her border. She held out for awhile, but once the catapults rolled on to her capital, she had no chance. Cleopatra held out the longest, for the sole reason that I had quite a distance to cover. She too, eventually fell, but by the time I was hitting her capital, she had pikemen. Unlucky for her, I had infiltrating, marching catapults backed up by a Great General.
Now, the point of this thread, and what makes this particular game unique. By the time those three were defeated, the year was probably 1400 AD. Astute readers might have noticed that I haven't yet mentioned who my fourth opponent was.
This is because I hadn't met them yet.
That's right, I still had one mystery opponent out there. I checked the 'Who's Winning' graphs, and noticed that whomever it was had a significant tech lead on me, but we were tied on economical check points. I had a very small cultural lead, but since most of my empire was conquered cities with no temples or cathedrals, that really wasn't surprising.
So, I created some Cruisers and explored the ocean. It didn't take me long to find out what was going on.
On a small island out in the ocean were the Japanese with only two cities. On the northern part of the island stood Tokyo, 29 population strong with only four tiles not being coastal. Across a one tile land-bridge was his second city, 17 population. Tokyo had, from what I could tell, the Great Wall and Hanging Gardens. Possibly others, I couldn't tell or can't remember.
Tokyo had, at first count, two submarines guarding their harbor. I had just barely gotten to Cruisers. Tokyo had a population of 29. My 'mega-city', Madras, had a population of 12. There was no telling how many units resided inside the city, but I saw at least the flag for a Great Scientist and a Great Thinker.
Change of game plan. I saw that I could tech Steel, so decided that Battleships out classed Submarines. Thinking I could choke the city (My CivIV experience influencing me), I decided that I would tech up to tanks and artillery, take the southern city, then blockade Tokyo. Then I would send in bunches of Spy Rings to sabotage, then ultimately conquer, Tokyo.
It was a good plan, in theory. During this time of searching for Japan, I also came across Atlantis. Atlantis in the 1700's will give you really good techs. Battleships came out quickly, and with a budding economy and spare cruisers, I quickly stormed the southern city and started in on a blockade. Only riflemen greeted me, and my newly found tank armies (I timed Leo's Workshop to complete the exact turn after Combustion was tech'd) rolled into his city. Rushed a wall in the city to prevent culture flip, and then started the blockade.
Tokyo was able to produce enough hammers to pump out three battleships every two turns. Three. Every two turns. Do you know how hard it is to blockade a almost pure coastal city when they constantly push out Battleships that sink yours? It's insane!
Eventually, at the cost of my entire treasury, I was able to slip in a cruiser to the last coastal tile next to Tokyo. With no place for the Battleships to spawn, Tokyo could no longer produce naval forces. I then punched out cheap Cruisers to blockade the BFC, using my tank armies to blockade the land tiles. My plan was almost ready, when I checked the date. 1950AD. Only roughly 50 turns left, to my estimate. Had to make this victory fast. Tokugawa was close to the Space Race victory. Just a few turns earlier it was announced that he had tech'd Space Flight, but with only one city I figured it'd be awhile before he could build the ship.
I sent in my first Spy Ring, thinking to sabotage his defenses and conquer him with sheer firepower. My Spy Ring was attack power 3. Tokugawa had a Spy Ring defending with defense of 4.5. Loyalty + Veteran made it practically impossible for me to push them out. I threw 8 spy rings at him before I simply gave up.
I pressed the attack with my favourite tank army. Remember the Warrior from early in the game that had beaten all those Barbarians? Yeah, he might be old now, but he drives a tank and knows how to use it. Attack Power of roughly 120ish, can't remember exact value (Vet + Infiltration + Battleship Fleet Support + Great General - should be around 140, yes?).
He got mauled. Bad. Modern Infantry ate him alive. Loyalty and Vet bonuses and walls were simply destructive.
So I attacked again. This time, the Japanese Infantry had a Great General behind them. I lost.
Sent my mobile artillery at them, thinking I'd had at least hurt them badly enough to finish them off. Lost again.
At this point, all I really had were defensive units, so I quickly created another army and rushed it to the front lines. Sent another batch of tanks, thinking there was no way I could be this unlucky. Watched in horror as the Japanese Infantry had suddenly doubled in defense power. Guess who had just promoted his units with Leadership?
Can't infiltrate via spies.
Can't storm due to OP Infantry.
Can't culture flip. Might have time for a Culture Victory, but would have to rush a fair number of Wonders.
Japanese only turns away from launching a space ship using a single, 31 population city.
Only one recourse left to me.
I burned a Great Builder and rushed the Manhatten Project. Nuked poor, beautiful, illustrious Tokyo into the ground. What once was the #1 city in the world, and the only city not under my control, suddenly found itself at a 2 population with no troops defending it.
So. Here's why this thread was created in 'Strategy and Tips' subforum.
Don't ever stop exploring the world.
Now I want to play a game as the Japanese and see if I can get a Mega-City built with only one feeding city...
Thanks!
