Earth 18 Civs Role Playing Challenge: Alexander (The Great!)

We've taken out Egypt and Persia, almost have control of the required territories, and have The Great Wall - an Ancient wonder. Unfortunately, Saladin has built Damascus - ironically - in Syria, so we will have to fight for it. I signed open borders with him to help my research, but we'll have to declare war on him so I guess we didn't need to sign it.

We have some troops scattered around the place, and a galley which I used to transport phalanx units to the shores of Egypt and the Middle East. Saladin founded Hinduism and I have converted. Buddhism hasn't spread throughout Europe, so I assume that either Montezuma or Huayna Capac founded that religion.

Let's get to the chase. Anyone ready for serious gameplay and crappy humor?

We begin the game by settling Athens 1N. It grabs two sheep, two fish, marble, and wine. We do miss out on the wine in Crete, but that won't matter much. Four food resources! That's great for a city, although we might not use all of them for Athens alone:



Fast forward 15 years - We meet some old guy who wants us to try his salad:



I'm more of a meat-lover myself, so we decline.

Villagers in what is now the Czech Republic give us some cash:



I was going to use the gold to buy a silver toilet, but we don't have that resource.

Next, we meet a ton of leaders that are gonna hate us in a few millenia:









Greek herbalists find a mysterious plant said to cure most diseases:



I can't remember if we lost population or not, but we still got the health bonus. "Health is the bedrock to world domination!", that sounds so cheesy.

We meet the Far Eastern civilizations shortly after:





Stir-fry, Mongolian BBQ, and sushi . You can't beat that! On a serious note, we do learn about the "Art of War", as explained by Sun Tzu.

Surprisingly, we beat the Chinese AND Mongolians to the Korean village:



They decided to join our military. Why the hell not?

Back home, we learn the secrets to Bronze Working so we can sacrifice people to build statues and whatnot:



I'm cruel and I'm proud of it.

We start working on a settler, and use the whip to get them ready fast:



I opted to settle on the copper. We've got to be fast and furious if we want to achieve victory, no time to mine the copper up!



Aigai, the capital of Ancient Macedonia... built too far West. Controlling Macedon isn't a problem, just wait for Athens to have two border pops (if you settle 1N) and presto - instant Macedonia.

We start working on an invasion force:



But for who, you might ask?



No, not her, although Alexander would be pleased if she would be his slave bride.

Meanwhile, we rush another settler in Athens and send them to Anatolia to occupy that region:



I had to look at images of Alexander's empire to find that city name. Really, who here actually has knowledge about Alexander's Anatolia holdings?

In 2060 BC, Greek influence encouraged the rest of the Macedonians to join the Greek empire:



And just like that, Macedonia's borders fall entirely in Greek hands.

So who were we going to invade? Egypt. We built a galley so we could transport troops to the shores of the North African coast so we don't have to march through the Middle East:



We used the galley to transport two groups of two phalanx to the Western Egyptian border. The battle was ready to begin:



Three warriors. Ooh, I'm so scared. A wooden club will definitely crush my men's armor and shields and leave them defenseless. This "battle" was little more than a massacre:




Hatshepshut was thrown into the Nile to feed the crocodiles.

We meet a guy with the worst haircut I've ever seen:



Handsomest? Best-dressed? What, do you think that this is a "Mr. Universe" competition?

Anyways, the citizens of Thebes want to join Arabia:



If you think that I'd want to give the city to someone else then you'd probably think I would want to jump into a lava pit. Hell no.

Sending troops over to invade Persia, we spot their border:



You can also see that I'm researching Meditation. I want to try and snag The Oracle, so I was beelining to Priesthood. You probably know what that gambit's pathetic fate was.

We begin working on The Great Wall in Thebes to achieve our "Wonder" goal:



Out East, we begin the invasion of Persia:



Cyrus is probably looking at my units that are about to intrude his land. Sorry buddy, but you've been on our list before the game even began.

The very next turn, Cyrus thought that it would be a good idea to bring a friend into the mix:



Not to worry, he's too far away to reach us. Even if he did he doesn't have Horseback Riding, so there wouldn't be anything to be scared about.

Alright, honestly, how the hell do stone daggers pierce through bronze armor?



Absolutely no explanation to that.

But as they say, payback's a *****:



We renamed the city Babylon. Now that the city is ours, we sent out reinforcements to continue the war:



When they disembark, they will immediately go towards Persepolis.

Our veterans from Parsargadae (Babylon) were sent to fight in Persepolis after whipping out two warriors to keep order in Babylon:



We also see that Arabia joined the party and settled in Syria:



You didn't learn from our invasions of Egypt and Persia, did you Saladin?

So we began the siege of Persepolis. Either that archer unit took steroids or was using alien technology, 'cause that lone unit took out two phalanx units - the last one while injured:



They're gonna pay. So long as Persepolis stands it will prevent our objectives from being complete. We need to launch another invasion.

Irritated by the Persian victory at Persepolis, Alexander himself had joined the fray:



He wasn't going to just let the Persians get away with that cheap victory. While he never saw action during the Greco-Persian War, he still waits to strike against another civilization.

Back out East, Greece finally took Persepolis using the reinforcements from Athens:



Poor Cyrus, his forces never stood a chance. He fled like a coward to Susa, a city located in Pakistan.

Thebes finally finished The Great Wall. Check - 1 of 2 Ancient and/or Classical wonders:



It took a while, but Persia has been knocked out of the game following the Fall of Susa:



The coward was finally defeated, his lifeless body thrown into a ditch and covered with sand. Legend has it that he was not dead and managed to escape, hiding in the jungles of India waiting for his opportunity to strike. Yeah, I definitely believe that.

As there was little to no activity following Persia's demise, here is the current state of the world. The first picture is the Western Empire, the second is the Eastern Empire:




Alexander himself recorded every last thing during this game - every tile, every unit, every resource, you name it. He wrote it down on papyrus scrolls, storing the scrolls inside of a wooden chest.

He called it "Saved Game Data".

That concludes Part 1 of this story. Can Civman the Great complete the rest of his objectives leading up to a militaristic victory? Stay tuned!

Settled in Macedonia/Dalmatia. Warrior rushed Germany and Rome c 3000bc. Took a break while building a couple of settlers for Greece and Anatolia and a few phalanxes (or is it phalanges?). Stomped Russia 2100bc, kept Moscow then Spain (Madrid Buddhist holy city) and France c 1900bc.
Louis very kindly built Stonehenge and Great Wall, useful wonders in their own right and meets one of the objectives. Just finished stomping Persia, razed Susa on the borders of India, kept Persia and Mesopotamia.
With 50% Prophet or Great Spy Paris produced a spy who's currently exploring Africa. Got a couple of cities running scientists for GS production. The main delay to the game will be astronomy, bulbing towards that will be useful so have to remember to avoid philo/paper bulbs (avoid meditation, CS and theo).
Research wise going for alphabet atm, difficult to say after that as I'll probably have to research almost everything myself.
Having a go at Pyramids and Great Lighthouse.

. We must control MACEDONIA, ANATOLIA, EGYPT, MESOPOTAMIA, and PERSIA by 330 BC (around the time that Alexander died IRL). We are not restricted to only controlling these regions.


2. EGYPT and PERSIA must be eliminated by the same timeline (330 BC).
Persia 1510bc. Egypt 1160bc

3. At least TWO ANCIENT and/or CLASSICAL WONDERS must be controlled before we enter the MEDIEVAL AGE.
Captured Gwall and Stonehenge 1960bc, built Glight 1240bc, MoM 780bc, Oracle 530bc!

4. ALEXANDER himself must engage in combat in AT LEAST 5 BATTLES as a MOUNTED unit (chariot, horse archer, whatever). Since Alexander isn't a Great General, he will be the FIRST MOUNTED UNIT PRODUCED. Battles against barbarians do not count. If Alexander dies, it's GAME OVER.


Alex started as 23xp supermedicmedic chariot and picked up some xp from 6 fights iirc

5. We may only use HEREDITARY RULE as our government civic. How much sense does it make for Alexander to be a Prime Minister?
Running HR, vassalage, slavery. When I noticed this restriction I abandoned building pyramids

6. The only methods we can achieve victory are through CONQUEST or DOMINATION. All other victory conditions will be enabled, however.
Making progress. Hats (1160), Betty (1130bc, killed by a barbarian horde ), Sal (760), Mansa (520), Asoka (400, reduced to one city by barbs). Declared on China 350. Declared on America 340.

Got astronomy in 470bc: used GSpy for a Goldage, got 4 GS for compass, optics, astronomy(2GS) , philosophical does indeed come in useful.

Settled Athens on turn 5 getting a 2nd scout.


I ended up, working the marble, building 6 straight warriors, workboat, (switched from marble tile) warrior, galley while teching agriculture->sailing. Sailing wasn't the original plan. Berlin is on the diagonal with Athens. I decided to 2-warrior rush him. Meanwhile one scout got experience and another popped a warrior. Lo and behold the 1st warrior won at low odds at Berlin. The wheels started spinning. I decided to continue the 2-warrior rush into Paris while Berlin started on a warrior to see if stealing a worker from Russia was possible. Meanwhile Saladin founded Hinduism and got 4-warrior rushed. (3 built and 1 popped.) Long story short, I was in London ~turn 100 with Europe, Arabia and Egypt under control. After sailing the tech path was awkward, IIRC AH->wheel->mining->masonry->BW->pottery->writing. Somewhere in there, mysticism was popped from a hut. During this time the druids finished there ancient project.


Right or wrong I settled Sparta by the Wheat near Russia and have a settler on board galley bound for the gold/gems/crabs in Africa. I have to crank out the GLH ASAP.

The site of India was astonishing. 3 cities, 3 units. An archer in one city, a warrior in another and something in the third. Something seems to be off on this map and not necessarily the level. Maybe monarch, epic speed might be better.

Funny enough, I was thinking about increasing the difficulty as well as reducing the game speed. Marathon has been feeling too easy, even on higher difficulties.

If you guys want, I can start over on Monarch difficulty and Epic game speed. That way, things will be a little more challenging and not feel like a cakewalk.