Earth: All the Russias

This is, hopefully, the first of a series of Let's Plays based on my standard-size Earth map for Gods and Kings, which can be found here.

• Earth: All the Russias, 4000BC
• Making friends... and enemies. 4000 - 2490BC
• Enemies become friends, and friends enemies. 2490 - 1510BC
• Persia conquered! Wait, that's not Persia... 1510 - 510BC
• The Russian Bear and the Horse Lords. 510BC - 505AD

Couple of notes:
- There are no Mods involved, it's a straight-up Gods and Kings game.
- The map is VGK Earth DLC, so no special settings (other than raging barbarians) are active, all victory conditions are viable and the Inca are in play.
- Difficulty is set at Immortal.
- Speed is set at Marathon.
- Starting save is attached below.
- It is patched to the latest version as of 28/07/2012.

Playing on a map which we already know changes things. In some respects it'll be easier, we won't have to waste time researching animal husbandry looking for Horses if there aren't any near us, for instance. In others it'll be harder, it being an Earth map some starts are naturally more difficult than others and few can be considered ideal, especially on a map of this size and Civ density. What it means more than anything else, however, is that we can look to the long-game and plan for it.

For our first game, we're going to play as Catherine of Russia.



- Our Unique Ability is pretty decent, +1 production on each strategic resource and double quantities of Iron, Horse and Uranium.
- We've a Unique Unit in the form of the Cossack, the Russian replacement for Cavalry with a bonus against damaged units. It's nothing to write home about, unfortunately.
- The Unique Building, the Krepost, on the other hand reduces the cost of expanding into new tiles by 25% and the gold cost is reduced by 25% as well. With quite a bit of territory between Moscow and anyone else, this is going to come in handy.

And, here's our start:


So, any suggestions?

Settle in place or move? Do we scout west towards the Baltic and Europe, south towards the Caucasus and the Middle East, east towards Siberia or which of the points in between? Are we going to go for a Tall or Wide start, perhaps go Tall early and then conquer/puppet Wide? What about the Tech path, the Krepost is ideal for early expansion but if we go for Iron Working we'll delay our Library/National College which could come back to haunt us. How about a build order? The map is small enough that we could get away without a scout but we could potentially miss out on a good number of ruins, especially those out in Siberia if Mongolia decides to explore to its south. What about a Religion, will we try for one? There's quite a bit late-game potential in Siberia but the land in Europe is quite promising and with all Europe likely at each other's throats there could be easy pickings.

Anyway, that's more than enough out of me. I want to know what you think.

Making friends... and enemies.

The first hundred turns were your typical standard fare for an Immortal game - early exploration, meet the neighbours, make some friends and, of course, the inevitable early rush. Which, as usual, I was woefully unprepared to deal with.

I started off with a Scout, if there was any chance at finding some ruins that had to be the first build. As it turned out I didn't find a single one! On Immortal the AI starts with a scout so the 15 turns I spent building my one probably cost me the ruins. On the other hand, the early scout did allow me to keep my starting warrior close to the capital which, as we'll soon see, was rather fortunate.

Early exploration with the Warrior covered a rough circle around Moscow and by the time he was done, the Scout was ready. Culture was lagging way behind where I normally expect it to be and I started construction of a Monument. The speed difference between warrior and scout in terms of exploring quickly became apparent as my Scout made it to the other side of Siberia while my Warrior was doing rather well to make it to Stockholm!





I decided early on that I was going to skip competing in the Religion game and I lucked out on that one. India founded a Pantheon (Goddess of Protection: +30% ranged str in cities) on turn 23 and Germany on turn 24 (God of the Sea: +1 production on sea resources). Around this time the Monument finally completed and Pottery had been bulbed so construction began on a Granary while I was researching Writing.

India was whacking some barbs out in the middle of no where and left the heavily wounded warrior and his encampment easy pickings for my Scout. Cheers India!

Then high-school, I mean the diplomacy game, began...

Germany and Spain made a declaration of Friendship and Denounced France all within a very short span of time. I was invited into the early love-fest by Spain and accepted while a unilateral invitation for some alone time with India was declined. I'd been keeping an on the diplomacy screen and knew that India had been denounced by China, unsure how it would all play out in the East I decided to play it safe. Shortly after my DoF with Spain Germany declared war on Byzantium and I worried if I had committed too early. Nobody else seemed interested in the little spate, however, so I breathed a sigh of relief and saw I was two turns off my first Policy.

Turn 48 saw my first culture pick and I went for Liberty. I'm usually a Tradition player but there's simply so much territory between Moscow and anyone else that I'll either be settling it or conquering it. Either way, Representation, Meritocracy and Citizenship are going to be important and if I end up settling it then Collective Rule will be useful too.

Turn 53 saw Spain and India become Friends while China's denouncement of India expired and wasn't renewed, probably in light of the fact that Germany and India and Germany and China were now also friends. The entire thing became more orgy-like 10 turns later when China and Spain hitched up, China and India got together and Germany, Spain, India and China all denounced France and Persia.

While all this was going on, Moscow's library completed and work began on a Warrior. I had initially intended on building a Worker but I was close to 700 gold at this stage (thanks to that Barb camp, selling some embassies and Furs by a river) and decided that 1 Warrior was a little thin, even for me.



Animal Husbandry bulbed shortly after this and Byzantium peaced out with Germany and immediately denounced France. I think it was clear, even to Byzantium, that a clique was forming. and forming rapidly, between Spain, Germany, India, China and myself and they wanted part of it. As if DoFs weren't enough to make this clear all of the aforemention, minus myself, declared war on Persia. Byzantium, and now Arabia, attempt to worm their way into the clique by denouncing Persia and France and befriending both India and China. Remaining aloof I picked Republic as the next social policy still fairly confident that I could buy that worker and stayed out of it.

Around turn 84 I began an exploration of Africa with my scout, angering Jerusalem along the way.



I also spot a French army south-east of Moscow thanks to my sole Warrior which had been fortified on a forested hill south-east of Moscow since I gave up trying to explore with him. Sure enough, a turn later, France declares war. Its army? 4 warriors, 2 archers and a Great General, Sun Tzu.



It was close and only by sacrificing a warrior and purchasing another with the gold earmarked for the Worker were they finally beaten back, their warriors all dead, their archers damaged and Sun Tzu lost amidst some corpses just outside the woods near Moscow. No peace with France though, not without surrendering all my gold.



China hits the Classical age while Moscow burns from the final suicide warrior charge from France. My Friendship with Spain expired shortly after the French army began retreating and I immediately renewed it, though no further denouncement of France was forthcoming. Germany, Byzantium and India now all renew or make declarations of friendship with Spain.

Just as the French army leaves, a Mongolian army arrives!



A similar size to France's it was led by Kublai Khan and had the added benefit of catching my two warriors wounded and Moscow still recovering from the final French charge. Sure enough, the declaration of war arrives a turn after France's army has left my line of sight. Trapping bulbs immediately after the DoW but any thought of a Worker being built or bought has now firmly left my mind. The Mongol army was slowly whittled down but a dangerous few turns passed in which Moscow might be lost but the Mongolian army retreats despite the weakness of my two remaining Warriors.



Victory, but only just. Peace is no where in sight, Moscow is still underdeveloped and the early second city I had hoped for remains elusive. On the other hand, we have survived the early rush, the next social policy pick will give a free settler, neither Germany, Persia or Sweden look like they'll take any spots near us before then and we have bought ourselves some time to figure out what to do with Mongolia and France.

Certainly not my finest start but it's potentially workable... I think.

Nice story so far, also good job defending rushes. Not sure about land quality but theres space to expand towards Mongolia, and map is a bit crowded. I foresee more wars you could plan to put some russian powered horses in action soon.

Do people usually get rushed twice in the early game when playing on Immortal? That seems excessive.

Looks like a crowded but manageable start, especially in the barren east. I'll be keeping my eye on this.

I'm still unsure about whether to head East or not. There's very little resources there until you start getting Oil, Uranium and Aluminium revealed. Depending on how the early diplomacy/settlement game plays out we may rush someone with Horses/Swords, just to try and recover some of the turns lost due to those wars. I'm in the process of the next update and Sweden declared war on me! However, he appears to have quickly returned to the Spain/India/Germany etc fold. I don't think it's normal to have quite so many declarations on Immortal although I think partly the map, the way diplomacy developed (Mongolia, France and Sweden were all left out in the cold) coupled with my low army all contributed to the declarations.

What worries me is that, somehow, one of the American civs has managed to meet about half of the Old World civs. That shouldn't be possible unless one of the American Civs founded a city up in Alaska very early on, which would be unusual to say the least.

No need to panic, it turns out that the 'Unmet Civilization' is Japan. It didn't dawn on me until an 'Unmet Civilization' founded the Shinto religion. So all is as it should be!

It didn't start well and it got worse before it got better.

Not a turn or two into this chapter and the single most annoying thing to happen in the whole game to date, occurs. Adrianople is founded immediately south of Moscow. I spent several long minutes selecting choice descriptions for our 'friend' in Constantinople. Unfortunately, there was bugger all that I could do about it. For now anyway.



Whilst I was still fuming about Adrianople I managed to miss a Swedish invasion who declared on turn 105. This was easily beaten back thanks to the German AI deciding to send in a peace-keeping force of sorts to prevent Sweden's units from actually making it to Moscow. I killed a few of his warriors but it was a non-war for all intents and purposes.





Turn 110 - Bismarck hits the Classical era and I start to freak out about my science rate. As a long-standing Tradition player I typically grab the NC and Philosophy early, so this meandering around picking up Trapping and now Iron Working with a god-awful science rate, on Immortal, is starting to become unnerving. I, however, have the utmost confidence in myself to claw back an early setback and even more so in the AI to piss away its advantage. I'm also not going to bloody well lose on my first public outing! My confidence appears perfectly justified when Genghis comes along and asks for peace, offering me 100 gold and 1gpt. I accept, of course, and ask Napoleon his thoughts on the matter - he still wants everything, so yeah.

Turn 115 - Sweden gives white peace, the German peacekeeping force still largely separating Swedish forces from Moscow. I think it's safe to assume that the AI didn't intend to block Sweden but one can always hope. Persia, in its infinite wisdom as international outcast, decides to denounce Spain a Civ beloved by pretty much the entire world. Well played Persia.

Turn 117 - Sweden and Arabia become Friends and Sweden offers me a friendship deal as well, which I accept. My reasoning is that I have no interest in Stockholm for some time and they're unlikely to declare war on me whilst we're friends. My next Social Policy arrives and my free Settler is sent immediately north to grab the two Copper, Deer and Whales. I toyed with moving East but the terrain was poor in comparison while West was too close to Germany.

Turn 119 - Sweden denounces France becomes Friends with Byzantium and reaches the Classical era. Weirdly, France and India become Friends, I half expected this to break up the love-fest going on but it seemed to have little impact. Looking back on it, this Friendship laid the foundation for a real twist in the diplomatic scene in later turns.

Turn 121 - India and Carthage becomes Friends. France declares war on Spain and becomes Friends with China. I didn't think much of this at the time but France becoming friends with India and China and declaring war on Spain was the clearest indicator of a coming shift in global politics. Partly I was distracted by the fact that Bronze Working bulbed and research began on Iron Working which, when the Iron was hooked up, I fully expected to go to war with Byzantium for Adrianople.

Oh, St. Petersburg is founded.



Turn 122 - Germany and Arabia declare war on France prompting France to offer me White Peace, which I accept. India and China continue with their odd diplomatic moves by befriending Spain and Arabia. Whether they don't care about the ongoing war and dislike of the French in Europe or they want to play both sides is anyone's guess, but this was the clearest indicator of the loss of Spain/Germany from the group of definite friends (Spain, Germany, India, China and myself) that had been formed previously.

Turn 126 - More diplomatic shenanigans as Egypt, India, Arabia and Byzantium all make Friends with each other while England denounces France.

turn 127 - Two cities were founded here that irritated me, Hamburg and Mumbai. Hamburg was probably to be expected and with few resources was not a terrible loss. The Indian city of Mumbai was more unusual, having been settled up in Siberia.




Turn 128 - With my happiness in the toilet and my first Worker finally complete (I decided that in light of the numerous declarations of war against me that I'd keep a reasonable large stockpile of gold instead of purchasing a Worker) I start improving the Furs on the river beside Moscow. This was a relatively long period of nothing happening (a whole 10 turns!), which was a relief really.

Turn 135 - Persia founds a pantheon - Desert Folklore (+1 faith from desert tiles). The Unmet player (Japan) becomes friends with Persia and denounces France while Arabia becomes friends with Germany and Byzantium. I decline a Byzantium declaration of Friendship - Adrianople is still foremost in my mind.

Turn 138 - Byzantium denounces Persia and a Persian army declares war on me. There was no great general that I could see, but there were at least 4 Immortals and 3 Archers, making it the most potent attack to date.



Turn 139 - Someone snags the Great Library, either Japan or one of the American Civs.

Turn 141 - The constant wars pay off and my first Great General, Maurya, is born in Moscow.

Turn 146 - The Persian army retreats just as I reorient my forces to fall back behind the river running alongside Moscow. Arabia, India, France, Sweden, Germany and Spain all declare war on England.



Turn 148 - The Krepost completes in Moscow and the Settler I had originally queued up was replaced with two Spearmen. Between Hamburg, Adrianople and Mumbai my settlement prospects were pretty limited and with Iron Working ~20 turns away there was a good chance I could take Persepolis without taking on too harsh a diplomatic penalty.

Turn 151 - France peaces out with Germany, Byzantium becomes friends with Egypt and Songhai denounces Persia.

Turn 154 - An Unmet Civilization founds Shinto - this was when I finally realized that the Unmet Civ was Japan!

Turn 155 - Egypt becomes friends with Spain and I finally manage to connect Furs to the capital, just in time too - as I had only just dipped into negative happiness.

Turn 161 - Spain becomes friends with India, while an Unmet Civ (Japan) denounces Byzantium.

Turn 163 - China and Germany become friends while France declares war on Spain.

Turn 165 - Persia and Mongolia declare war on India. Arabia and Sweden become friends.

Turn 169 - Ethiopia denounces Persia, India becomes friends with Germany, Spain peaces out with France while Byzantium founds a Pantheon - Goddess of love (+1 happiness in city).

Turn 172 - India and China renew their vows of friendship.

Turn 173 - After an obscene number of turns things finally start to get interesting and Iron Working comes online. At this point I'm still very concerned about my science rate and set the tech path to Philosophy and the National College. There's 3 Iron just outside Moscow's borders but my culture had just expanded so it would take 48 turns to grab the tile - far too long! I purchased it for a paltry 110 gold.



At this point I had decided that Perseopolis followed by Adrianople and potentially Mumbai were the order of the day. However, events were to unfold to undermine that plan.

Turn 174 - Ethiopia founds Christianity and becomes friends with Arabia. Arabia becomes friends with China, India with Egypt, France with China and Byzantium with India. The most important event, however, is that Mumbai fell to Mongolia.



Turn 175 - Arabia becomes friends with India, India with France, Byzantium with China and Sweden denounces Persia.

Turn 176 - Egypt becomes friends with Arabia, Persia denounces Spain and Sweden becomes friends with China.

Turn 177 - I begin construction on the Heroic epic, partly because the alternative building is a Shrine and partly because war is definitely going to feature strongly in this game and the earlier I build the Heroic Epic the cheaper it'll be.

Turn 178 - Darius attempts to peace out by demanding all my gold and St. Petersburg. There needs to be a stronger 'Refuse' option...

Turn 181 - France becomes friends with Carthage and Byzantium. More importantly, India founds Hinduism, making it the third religion. Only two more can be founded. We have one in Japan (Shinto), one in Ethiopia (Christianity) and one in India (Hinduism).

Turn 184 - Sweden peaces out with England and France declares war on Spain.

Turn 185 - Germany denounces Spain! The past 184 turns of diplomatic wranglings become undone with this move. The founding core of best buds forever, Germany, Spain, Russia, India and China now lose a member and I fear for the group's survival. Sure enough, turn 186 is a diplomatic maelstrom of denouncements.

Turn 186 - Ethiopia, Carthage, China, Sweden and Songhai denounce Spain. Sweden (that's not a typo, Sweden denounced both of them!) and Byzantium denounce Germany. Germany denounces Persia while Arabia becomes friends with Byzantium and Songhai.



Turn 187 - The diplomatic maelstrom continues, this time a counter-offensive by the 'Friends of Spain'. France, Egypt and Arabia denounce Germany. Arabia, following Sweden's example, denounces Spain as well.

Persia offers over 1000 gold plus all its luxury resources for peace. I hesitated for some time on whether or not to take this but as my worker was at least 10 turns away from hooking up Iron I decided that I could use the gold! Once peaced out, I immediately denounced Persia. Regardless of what anyone else thinks of anyone else, everybody who's anybody agrees that Persia is bad and so I took my free brownie points.



Turn 188 - Persia denounces me but denouncing Persia was clearly a strong move as China, Sweden, Ethiopia and Spain all congratulate me on denouncing Persia - China even goes so far as to denounce them themselves!

Turn 190 - Spain and France peace out.

Turn 192 - An Unmet player (Japan) denounces Germany and Spain, while France denounces Spain and England denounces Germany.

Turn 193 - Ethiopia becomes friends with Songahi while Germany denounces Carthage.

Turn 194 - India denounces Persia, and both Ethiopia and Songhai denounces Germany.

Turn 195 - My friendship with Spain is due to be renewed but I leave it lapse. Iron is finally hooked up and I use my large gold reserves to upgrade my warriors to Swordsmen and purchase another Sword in Moscow.

Turn 197 - Persian peace treaty expires.

Turn 198 - Ethiopia asks me to go to war with them against Persia. A stroke of luck I believe and I greatefully accept. My happiness drops down 6 (from 22) but my army is on the march and someone will finally pay for using me as a punching bag!




Commentary:

This update pretty much saw all of that expansive space we had earlier closed off to us in one manner or another. Mumbai was the most serious offender and frankly, I'm rather surprised that India got a settler up that far north. It's surprised that it sent it up there and it's surprising that the barbs didn't whack it en route. Everybody turning on Spain was unusual and while I understand how it snowballed, I'm not positive how it managed to erupt in the first place. I think Germany and France were growing steadily closer together and when France made friends with China and India that had a knock-on effect on Germany's relationship with France and because France and Spain were at war the whole thing came apart. Definitely not clear though, at all.

Development wise, I'm lagging behind by quite a bit. I think conquering is going to be the only way to catch up at this point. Persia is an easy target so Persepolis will, hopefully, fall fairly quickly and we can peace out with Persia. I don't want to go too far south, defending huge disparate territories is a nightmare, especially on this map with its numerous chokepoints. For that reason, Adrianople is what I'm thinking of next after Persepolis, the idea would be to try and ensure that my territory is contiguous. Byzantium though hasn't annoyed anyone yet and I don't want to make myself out to be the next Persia by declaring a war on everyone's friend.

Still, before that there's the actual battle of Persepolis and some attempt has to be made to try and generate some science output which is still dangerously low.

Not sure I like going for Iron Working, combination of archers/CBs and horses would be faster to research and build, and it wouldn't lead you that far away from techpath. It will still pay off so no problems there. I don't see any range units in your army.. range is good, easier logistics + "free" damage.

I really like politics here, interesting shifts makes game fun and it forces you to be carefull not to end up in wrong alliances. About that Mumbai city, it really looks like candidate for razing atm (unless you want to keep it for lategame resources, there's probably something hidden there).

_invy_ said:

Not sure I like going for Iron Working, combination of archers/CBs and horses would be faster to research and build, and it wouldn't lead you that far away from techpath. It will still pay off so no problems there. I don't see any range units in your army.. range is good, easier logistics + "free" damage.

I really like politics here, interesting shifts makes game fun and it forces you to be carefull not to end up in wrong alliances. About that Mumbai city, it really looks like candidate for razing atm (unless you want to keep it for lategame resources, there's probably something hidden there).

Click to expand...

I wasn't entirely positive about going after Iron Working myself. I'm not very familiar with early war so things like; going after Iron Working, the lack of early ranged units, being totally unprepared for the early DoWs and unable to balance science and defence early on are all just symtoms of that. My thinking on Iron Working was that I'd need Mining sooner rather than later to make St. Petersburg a worthwhile investment and Bronze Working gave the Krepost. I do think you're right though and if I was doing it again I'd probably go Archery-Wheel-Horseback Riding-Calendar-Philosphy.

The politics is a nightmare! Germany turning on Spain was quite a surprise and I'm no longer fully sure of who are the pack-leaders of the dominant clique. I think it's India and China but I wouldn't put money on it.

Mumbai is better razed than kept, definitely. I think the question is if after Persia we go East towards Mumbai/Mongolia or south to Byzantium. I think, but am not certain, that taking on Mongolia is the safer bet diplomatically in terms of DoFs.

Persia conquered! Wait, that's not Persia...

Commentary

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this. The turn by turn play has a number of benefits but quite a bit of it can be summarized fairly easily. I think the next (and future) updates will focus on things that happened that were out of the ordinary, like if someone is made an outcast on the international scene or war, for instance. This update saw the solidification of the diplomatic scene between two camps: England, Mongolia, Japan, Spain and Persia on one side with everybody else on the other. My war with Persia went poorly, the lack of siege weapons was a major factor but with some luck I recovered swiftly and as the update comes to a close we see significant opportunities open up in the game. Opportunies, however, that are not without risk - potentially significant, game-changing risk.




Turn 201 - The Russian army continues its march southward. Ethiopia becomes friends with Arabia, Carthage with Songhai while my own friendships with India and Germany were not renewed in the light of the sudden turn against them by Egypt and company at the end of the last chapter.



Turn 204 - Songhai becomes friends with Persia? It doesn't appear to be renewed over the course of the update, but I have no idea what prompted Songhai to do this. Spain becomes friends with Egypt in a move strikingly similar to Songhai's attempt to become friends with Persia and the Anglo-Spanish war comes to an inconclusive end.

Turn 205 - Arabia and Sweden become friends with Carthage and Germany's offer of renewing our friendship was rejected.

Turn 206 - Songhai becomes friends with Byzantium and France.

Turn 207 - Skirmishes north of Persepolis quickly dismiss any notions of a quick victory and the first trickle of doubt seems into my mind.



Turn 209 - India denounces Spain and I reject Songhai's offer of friendship because of his recent declaration of friendship with Persia, with whom I am at war. Diplomacy in action! Songhai then decides to become friends with Egypt and I begin to wonder if there was a memo I didn't get where we agreed that all the bad Civs were going to be rehabilitated into the international fold. Not for the first time I wonder the hidden mechanics of the diplomacy system.

Turn 211 - Sweden becomes friends with Songhai as Germany denounces both myself and China. England, clearly unhappy with the resolution to their own little war, denounces Spain. Persia offers a white pace which I reject. I actually rejected it before I learned of Sweden's renewed friendship with Songhai, had I known about it earlier I think a white peace may have been a safer bet. At this point I was beginning to seriously worry about the ability of the AI to keep its diplomatic actions sane.

Turn 213 - Just in case I did miss some memo, I make a safe bet and denounce Germany and was rewarded with warm messages of agreement from Egypt, France, Byzantium, Songhai, Carthage, Arabia, India and England! I hoped that this would offset any negative feeling Songhai (or others) may have had regarding my declaration of war on Persia who look, for a few fleeting turns, like they could be welcomed back into the fold.

Turn 216 - Egypt becomes friends with Ethiopia and Spain(!) while my friendships with Sweden and China were renewed. Meanwhile, two of my Spearmen become trapped between the sea and Persian Immortals. This was military stupidity on my part, the Spearmen were originally sent south to soak up Persian archer fire using the hilly terrain to limit damage but when the attempt to move north without significant losses failed they ended up getting stuck between Persepolis' ranged fire, the hilly terrain and Arabian culture.



Turn 220 - After several turns of attempting to storm Persepolis and failing it finally dawns on me that I really need siege weapons for this thing to work. Persia is just too easily defended and with two few avenues of attack to take without them. Resigned and more than a little disheartened I agree a white peace with Persia and walk away. In addition, I notice a number of German units on my borders and decide that Hamburg and Berlin would be easier targets!



Turn 221 - Ethiopia (my war-ally) peaces out with Persia as well.

Turn 224 - Philosophy bulbs and my friendship with Arabia is renewed.

Turn 225 - Sweden asks if I'm willing to declare war on Germany and I accept. The German forces appear to have disappeared and I still lack for Siege units but Hamburg is much less defensible than Persepolis so I reckon my odds are slightly better for a quick, victorious war. In other international news India becomes friends with Ethiopia, Arabia and Byzantium. Ethiopia enhances its religion Christianity and Japan enhances Shinto. Germany managed to snag a Worker because of a Warrior it had left near my borders that I had not had time to move away as Germany moves after Sweden.



Turn 226 - Spain denounces Sweden while my friendship with Carthage is renewed. China becomes friends with Sweden and India while Persia founds Zoroastrianism. I believe only one more religion can be founded at this point.

Turn 229 - Ethiopia denounces Persia, England denounces India.

Turn 231 - A Mongolian army led by Kublai Khan is spotted on my eastern borders and I worry that I may be involved in a two front war. Still smarting from the Persian humiliation I am not looking forward to a repeat of the first hundred turns!



Turn 234 - Byzantium peaces out with Germany.

Turn 235 - Spain, France, England, China, India, Arabia, Carthage, Ethiopia and Egypt peace out with Germany. Mongolia declares war on Byzantium and I breath a sigh of relief. Then I get exicted! If Mongolia takes out Adrianople, I won't have to go to war with Byzantium - a Civ firmly in the 'good guys' camp. If I ever needed the Mongolian war machine to do well, it was now!

Turn 236 - Arabia founds Islam, which makes 5 religions - Japan's Shinto, Ethiopia's Christianity, India's Hinduism, Persia's Zoroastrianism and now Arabia's Islam. The Middle East is a virtual hotbed of religion! The National College finishes in Moscow and an Unmet Civ (one of the American ones) reaches the Medieval Era. Meanwhile, on the front, Hamburg falls! I decide to puppet it out of happiness concerns. Usually I annex cities and rush-buy a Courthouse, but I lack the funds to do this at the moment.









Turn 237 - Persia denounces Spain, India becomes friends with Sweden as do France and China.

Turn 239 - Egypt declares war on Germany just as I begin the march on Berlin which seems to prompt a German offer of white peace. I reject it. The German navy attempts to capture Hamburg with its navy (3 triremes) and with no ranged units, naval forces or non-resisting cities nearby there's a serious possibility that this will happen. Fortunately, Hamburg comes out of resistance just in time and is able to keep their navy at bay with some bombardment.



Turn 240 - Carthage and France become friends, as do India and China while Byzantium peaces out with the Mongols.

Turn 242 - Songhai and Ethiopia become friends while England denounces Arabia.

Turn 245 - China denounces England as France cozies up to Arabia.

Turn 246 - Persia declares war on the Mongols, France denounces England.

Turn 247 - Songhai and Carthage denounce Spain while the French offer a declaration of friendship, which is rejected. I think they're in the good camp now but I don't want to risk rocking the boat.

Turn 248 - Ethiopia and China denounce Spain, Songhai and India become friends and I finally meet Japan!

Turn 249 - Spain denounces Egypt. I'm not sure what's going on here, I didn't think you could denounce a Civ you were friends with - but Spain seems to have done it. Regardless, I renew my friendship with Ethiopia, annoying Persia in the process (oh no...) and Germany's offer of white peace is rejected.

Turn 250 - German and Spain peace out.

Turn 251 - Japan, Germany and France denounce Spain while Persia peaces out with the Mongols.

Turn 252 - Mathematics finishes and I begin researching Horseback riding as I make my way towards Education. Japan becomes friends with Germany. India and Songhai denounce Persia while India becomes friends with Ethiopia.

Turn 254 - China denounces Persia.

Turn 255 - Carthage becomes friends with Sweden and Arabia while France and Arabia denounce Persia. China and India denounce Japan and Japan denounces Sweden.

Turn 256 - Japan denounces me! Carthage and Ethiopia become friends and Arabia denounces Japan.

Turn 257 - Spain offers its hand in friendship and to avoid the taint of international outcast I decline. Although early on it might have looked like they were being rehabilitated, it became pretty clear with Spain's denouncement of Egypt which camp they were in. Byzantium peaces out with Carthage and Songhai (I hadn't realized they were at war!) and then turns around to denounce Persia while Songhai becomes friends with Carthage. Nothing like a nice war to renew your bonds of camaraderie.

Turn 258 - Persia denounces me! France becomes friends with Songhai. Byzantium's offer of friendship is declined on account of Adrianople. The final push for Berlin begins.

Turn 260 - Japan denounces Arabia while Germany's offer of white peace is declined once more. A spearman is lost to German bombardment.

Turn 261 - England denounces me! The Great General, Llang, is born in Moscow. Egypt and Songhai become friends while Germany peaces out with Persia. Germany denounces Persia and Byzantium denounces Japan.

Turn 262 - India offers its hand in friendship and I decline. In hindsight, I think this was overly cautious but at the time I was not paying much attention to the international scene and if I wanted to wipe out Germany I needed to avoid any missteps. Byzantium peaces out with Mongolia as do France and Germany.

Turn 267 - The conquest of Berlin and the defeat of Germany.













Turn 268 - St. Petersburg finishes its granary and it starts building a Chariot Archer - I need some ranged units badly. Arabia and Sweden become friends and Moscow begins construction on a Circus to help with the happiness situation.

Turn 269 - Spain and Mongolia denounce me! Songhai and Sweden become friends while China, Sweden, Byzantium, Arabia, India all ask for me to declare war on Japan. Still very much aware of the potential diplomatic hit from taking out Germany, I decline. China asks for copper which I had forgotten to sell the previous turn and I accept - I could use the bonus diplo points. Songhai asks for friendship and I accept while India denounces Spain. Carthage and India become friends as do Egypt and Byzantium.

Turn 271 - Out of curiousity I check the score - I'm 2nd! Only Byzantium is ahead of me and I suspect that's because of the 2 or 3 world wonders that they've built. Ethiopia asks for my spare Truffles which I accept for the diplo points still kicking myself for not selling them earlier.

Turn 272 - Mongolia and Japan become friends! Mongolia was never 'in' with the right crowd and this all but confirms their fate as an outcast.

Turn 273 - Persia and Mongolia declare war on India. Mongolia denounces China and Sweden denounces Mongolia.

Turn 274 - Trade routes to Hamburg and Berlin finally open up, increasing my limited gpt. Myself, Songhai, Byzantium, Carthage, France and Arabia all denounce Mongolia. Byzantium and Egypt become friends with India while England denounces Spain and Persia, Japan, Spain and Mongolia declare war on Sweden. My DoF with Arabia is renewed and Arabia and China become friends.

Turn 275 - Arabia and India become friends.

Turn 276 - Sweden and China become friends. India becomes friends with France, Mongolia with Persia and Sweden with Byzantium. Carthage declines to renew my friendship pact with her! Curious I try and figure out why, and it appears that my rapid increase in city numbers has irritated her somewhat. I suspect that I've taken this hit (if not the warmongering one as well) with every Civ and either some don't care or are being careful and hiding it from me. Whatever the situation, unless I'm able to maintain a very large army, my plans for Siberia and Mongolia will have to be very carefully carried out.



Turn 277 - Mongolia denounces Spain and Moscow begins work on a Water Mill.

Turn 278 - Arabia and Ethiopia become friends.

Turn 279 - I start on Currency then plan on going to Drama, Civil Service, Theology and then Education. England declares war on Sweden.

Turn 285 - I get my next policy! I go for Meritocracy for the happiness boost. It's relatively mediocre and so far, I'm less than impressed with Liberty. The Settler, Worker and increased tile improvement speed are very nice features, especially on Marathon, but the central 'tree' of Tradition I still think outweighs Liberty even in a Wide game. Regardless, I've made my choice now and I'm going to stick to it, perhaps once I start more aggressive expansion it'll see stronger play than Tradition would.



Turn 287 - Persia becomes friends with Japan, China with France, Persia denounces Songhai and Sweden peaces out with Spain.

Turn 290 - Ethiopia denounecs Persia, France becomes friends with Carthage and my spare Copper goes to Songhai for the diplo boost.

Turn 291 - Ethiopia becomes friends with Sweden and Songhai while my own friendship with Egypt is renewed.

Turn 293 - Mongolia, Japan, England and Persia all declare war on me! I can't believe my luck. The plan? March east, raze Mumbai, capture the remaining Mongolian cities and settle Siberia. I have to be careful with city numbers though if I want to maintain any kind of good diplomatic relations. Alternatively I could raise a massive army and keep everyone friendly through sheer military might. Regardless, I can't simply throw settlers at Siberia and hope it'll all come out okay on the other side.

Turn 294 - I queue a Catapult and two Swordsmen in Moscow as Drama bulbs. Arabia and France become friends.

Turn 295 - India and Sweden peace out with Persia.

Turn 296 - Sweden denounces Persia as Persia denounces Spain. India and Sweden become friends. Byzantium becomes friends with France and China.

Turn 298 - India and China become friends and Ethiopia renews our friendship pact.

Turn 299 - The Russian Army makes it to the hill/mountain range, the Urals, between Moscow and Mumbai, where they meet the Mongolian army.

Great LP so far, can't wait to see how this comes out. It's reassuring to know that with all these random shifts in diplomacy the schizophrenic AI can still find the time to mass dow you!

Love the pic of bismark by the way, very ... dramatic!

animalguy said:

Great LP so far, can't wait to see how this comes out. It's reassuring to know that with all these random shifts in diplomacy the schizophrenic AI can still find the time to mass dow you!

Love the pic of bismark by the way, very ... dramatic!

Click to expand...

Thanks! And yes, the coordination in a mass DoW is something of a surprise. Still, it's a gift horse as far as I'm concerned so I'm not asking any questions.

Killing off Bismarck is always fun!


I think it's likely that it'll be a steamroll to the east followed by teching, Order and a space race. I'll have to see how the game unfolds though, one thing I've noticed with a map of this size and this many Civs is that victory conditions can change rapidly, far more rapidly than I've experienced in default games. It's also still very much early days yet - we're only 300/1500 turns in but despite my initial 'Christ, I'm going to lose' start I think we're steadily gaining a good position from which to dominate.

Definitely following this. Can't wait for the next update!

R1zzo23 said:

Definitely following this. Can't wait for the next update!

Click to expand...

Cool stuff. Just a quick heads up that unfortunately the next update is going to be either late tomorrow (Oz time) or sometime Saturday. RL decides to occupy my life between Tuesdays and Fridays... it's selfish little bugger.

Play on TSL giant map by Gedemon if you can. Give you more space and AI's less likely to come kill you. :3

Here is the one I played Siam with the map. You can see people build cities and war in their local areas.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=467211

Veneke said:

Cool stuff. Just a quick heads up that unfortunately the next update is going to be either late tomorrow (Oz time) or sometime Saturday. RL decides to occupy my life between Tuesdays and Fridays... it's selfish little bugger.

Click to expand...

Totally understandable. I'm a school teacher, so having the summers off is fantastic for gaming. I actually just purchased Civ V today on Steam. It's my first time ever playing a Civ game and I'm sure this will consume a bunch of my free time.

Ven, I'm currently trying out your Earth map and its been a blast even though my rig isn't up to snuff and I had to dial difficulty level down to get it to run this far with 20 civs (T183)

One question though - how do I get civs like Babylon, Korea, the Huns, Austria and Rome added in the scenarios?

smallfish said:

Ven, I'm currently trying out your Earth map and its been a blast even though my rig isn't up to snuff and I had to dial difficulty level down to get it to run this far with 20 civs (T183)

One question though - how do I get civs like Babylon, Korea, the Huns, Austria and Rome added in the scenarios?

Click to expand...

The easiest way to do it would be to open up the map file using Worldbuilder - so under Tools in Steam load up SDK Civilization V, select Worldbuilder, File, Open, browse until you get to the correct directory - should be in Mods - and open up the appropriate map.

Then you need to open up Scenario settings I think it's called along the top of the screen and using the '-' arrow in the City States tab delete the Vatican and Almaty (this is to make room for Rome and the Huns). Adding the other Civs will be difficult, because there is a cap of 22 Civs per map. Simply subtract the Civs you don't want, add the Civs you do and hit Ok. Then select the tile for where you want the new Civs to start and hit 'Edit Tile/Plot' (right hand side of the screen) and down towards the bottom there's a drop-down list called 'Starting Position' select the appropriate Civ and repeat as necessary.

Then go to Description and change the map name and description so you can tell it apart from the other maps and finally hit the small drop down button beside Save, this will bring up the Save As command. Hit that, change the name and save to your Maps. That *should* allow it to work. If it doesn't then allow yourself several minutes for some choice swearing at whoever thought this was a good way to design Worldbuilder and continue with the instructions below.

Exit everything. Load up the SDK again and this time hit Mod Buddy. Go for Create a New Mod - Map Pack - Ok. Fill in the form. Right click on the name of the Mod in the top right hand side screen and hit 'Add File'. Browse to your desktop and add your map. Right click on the name of the Mod and hit Properties - fill in the form. Hit the Save button then go to 'Build' along the top of the screen and build the Mod.

Exit everything. Load up Civ V, load up your mod and follow the normal instructions for a scenario (select map, exit out of the advanced settings screen if applicable, load scenario, select options, play).

@ Thread: Update should be out later today.

A very cool story. I just wish speed wasn't Marathon, I want to see gunpowder age.


Oh and was nice to discover your earth map, been looking for a G&K Earth map, thanks!

Haig said:

A very cool story. I just wish speed wasn't Marathon, I want to see gunpowder age.


Oh and was nice to discover your earth map, been looking for a G&K Earth map, thanks!

Click to expand...

Heh, yeah. Marathon is a bit of a chore. I can't stand the quicker speeds though, things have gone obsolete before you've had half a chance to use them. Still, the next update (currently in the write-up phase) has us about half-way through Chivalry, so Gunpowder should be coming in the update after that (due tomorrow, hopefully).

Hope you enjoy the map, there's a link to the feedback thread in the OP.