Discussion: A long term policy for Fanatika.

[Eklektikos]

In light of the constant battles over science queues & build queues, and the lack of coordination between departments that characterised term 1, it has become glaringly obvious that Fanatika needs to choose a definite direction and philosophy to keep us on track to domination of this game and eventual victory.

We cannot hope to make a success of our empire if it is not sure of its identity. Are we to be a nation of peaceful builders, concentrating on the construction of our infrastructure and relying on good relations with our neighbours for our survival? Or are we to be a nation of warriors, expanding and propering by achieving hegemony over our rivals? This is the choice before us as we enter our second term. We must make a definite choice between these two ways of life, for by attempting to follow both we shall succeed at neither.

Simply put: We do not, and will never have, sufficient resources to allow us to conventionally build wonders, improvements and a powerful army. A mixed approach will not work under demogame conditions.

Therefore I put before you these two proposals:

1. The Way of Peace

We prioritise internal infrastructure such as libraries, temples, marketplaces, etc, and attempt to build any Wonders by using conventional pre-building techniques. We try to maintain friendly relations with our neighbours through trade and other peaceful agreements, and adopt an aggressive posture only when under threat of attack. Our prefered governments are Republic & Democracy, and our ultimate goal is a cultural, diplomatic or spaceship win.

2. The Road to War

We prioritise all things military such as units, barracks, etc, will attempt to rush any Great Wonders with Great Leaders or capture them from other civs. We will regularly declare war on our neighbours, and attempt to capture cities and extort as much research and gold from them as possible. We will not as a rule wipe them out, but leave them around so as to come back and repeat the process. Our prefered government is Monarchy, and our ultimate goal is to achieve any victory condition other than diplomatic, for all the other options may still be open to us for some time to come.

Please discuss, comment on and make suggestions regarding these two proposals in this thread. Thankyou

~Eklektikos
President of Fanatika

[Plexus]

Well, my strategy when ruling a country would be a combination of the two, at first, I try to go with option 1. Then when I am a world power, I take 'the road to war' (usually in the industrial ages). (yes, industrial is a strange word uttered by our wise men) they assure it will be a great age for our civilization.

[Chieftess]

I am more of a peaceful builder. In fact, I think we should have a few more cities before even thinking about declaring war on the Aztecs.

[Plexus]

A few more!? Try at least 8-10... IMHO

[eyrei]

Kill em all!!!!:flamedevi

[Cyc]

As you know, Mr. President, I had drawn up a plan for a swift and powerful military strike on the Aztecs at the close of the last term. We opted not to go with it, but instead went for a later attack on the same vermin. This will work, too. I think we should stick to our original plan of aggressiveness. By building a strong army, we can use force to clear out the Aztecs or at least drive them south. We can then use intimidation to help us find our place in the world standings. At least to some extent. We may have to attack the Americans soon after, who knows? The Americans quickly place strategically located cities. We should keep them away from our lands.

Once we have beaten back our nieghbors in the areas we intend to expand in, and can still defend our perimeter, then we can concentrate more on infrastucture building.

So, I guess I'm going with Option #2.

[Plexus]

After some reconsideration, 4 cities would be enough to launch an all out war with the Aztec people.

[donsig]

Give me more soldiers noble leader...

[Octavian X]

I have always been a peaceful person. I do agree that if we are to attack the Aztec filth whom occupy our land, we must build more cities. We must be prepared if the Aztecs launch a couter or preemptive attack.

[Bill_in_PDX]

Eklekitos already demonstrates his impressive grasp of the situation. I commend you sir.

Clearly on this level of difficulty one path must be chosen and followed. We don't have the luxuries of the fabled people of Phoenatica to sit on the fence for generations.

Let us prepare for war, for surely the Aztecs will, and then we must be ready to turn on our ancient enemies the Americans.

Bill
Chief Justice of Fanatika

[Shaitan]

War. We are a warrior people and will win our place in the world through battle. You know what they say..."Kill 'em all let Kitanif sort 'em out".

[disorganizer]

War! We want blood!

[Eklektikos]

I personally believe that we belong on the road to war. Intelligent warmongering is the most effective and reliable strategy for achieving dominance in Civ3 at Emperor level, and would ensure our long term survival in a way that a "peaceful builder" strategy never could. I speak from bitter experience when I say this, as I used to follow the latter approach to the game when I habitually played at Regent level and below and was thus quite stunned to find how comparitively ineffectual it was when I moved up to Monarch, and how quickly the AI swooped on me when I played that way on Emperor. True, it is possible to succeed peacefully on Emperor, but that requires a precision of play that we cannot hope to achieve as a group, however skilled some of our ciitizens may be individually.

Warmongering, on the other hand, weakens our rivals at the same time as strengthening our empire - giving us the greater margin for error that we will require. It does not preclude the acquisition of great wonders, indeed it increases our chances of possesing them. This is because it is far more efficient and effective to capture such prizes or rush them with the Great Leaders we can only gain through warfare. In addition to this, warmongering will allow us to keep up in research without wasting shields on the Great Library - imminent annihilation is a very strong incentive for our rivals to yield up their secrets and gold to us!

In short, I see no downside to pursuing a life of warfare - while the peaceful, cultural way of life, however appealing to our RL sensibilities, is fraught with the risk of attack by our stronger neighbours (and yes, they would be stronger), and subsequent crippling or even destruction of our nation. Given this it seems obvious to me that we should choose the road that guarantees our strength and survival - that we should choose the Road to War!

[BCLG100]

well i like peaceful routes but as we are militaristic it would be a lot more fun to go to war

[Padma]

I would be remiss in my duties as Culture Leader if I did not espouse the building of cultural infrastructure.

However, we need to formulate an overarching strategy now, if we are to be victorious. And playing as the Germans, on the Emperor level, we would be foolish to attempt anything other than a warmongering strategy at this early stage.

(But I will remain that still, small voice whispering in the President's ear, "we need more temple, more cathedrals, etc." )

[Danke]

President Eklektikos, thank you for so eloquently describing our current situation and the roads and risks ahead.

I vote the path of war, not for blood, but because, as you put it so well, intelligent warmongering gives us the greatest opportunity for the greatest number of options down the road.

[Zarn]

The Aztecs have to go, but I would rather have peace afterwards.

[Octavian X]

I think it would more prudent to first begin building in the domestic arena. We need cities! Before any war is to be fought, we must ensure we have the production capability to carry on that war if is becomes lengthen, and the ability to build defensive units should an enemy strike force threaten our homeland.

[Zarn]

Originally posted by Octavian X
I think it would more prudent to first begin building in the domestic arena. We need cities! Before any war is to be fought, we must ensure we have the production capability to carry on that war if is becomes lengthen, and the ability to build defensive units should an enemy strike force threaten our homeland.

Very true Octavian. We must build before war.

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

Peace is my passion, but even I am ready to operate a sword and have blood run from it. as has been stated, we should produce more cities, possibly a settler factory? if so, wed have to go south towards the fields of cows.

also- mr president, please tell me you wont cut off the end of a TC when a new neighbor is found.