Always War, on Deity.

Always War is a fun, thrilling, and fascinating civilization variant. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a variant invented by Arathorn, with the following rules:

- Whenever a new civilization is met, war must be declared on them by the end of the turn.
- Peace may never be made, ever.

I've played in some Always War games before, including both the Always War Realms Beyond Epics 6 and 12. This time, I wanted to push the variant to its highest level: Always War on Deity.

Am I crazy? Insane? Mad? Probably! Oh well, let us see how things turn out...

I would be Alexander the Great, the leader of the mighty Greeks. We would be scientific; perhaps the most important factor. We would be commercial always a nice advantage. Oh and we would have hoplites. The Vikings were a consideration, but not being scientific is too big a disadvantage in my view.

The map settings would be as follows:

Small World.
4 opponents, all random.
Archipelago.
4 Billion years.
Temperate.

A condition of the game would be that if I wasn't on an island by myself, I would restart the game. I'm not quite that insane! It's still going to be a tough though. Remember, after the turn when I meet someone, I can't make any deals with them at all. Defending my home island probably won't be too hard, but in order to get enough resources to have a winnable position, I'm going to have to sieze some more islands. It's going to be tough all round.

---

Alexander's reign began with the founding of Athens. There was abundant farming land nearby, so Alexander had moved his people twice before deciding to found. Though the land was good, there was no fresh water. So, even though there was so much cattle, Alexander couldn't consider his start better than 'good' because of the absence of water.



Alexander lamented his worker having to build mines around his prize cattle-farming land, as there was not enough water to irrigate it.

Alexander immediately ordered the research of Pottery, so that Athens could build a Granary. Meanwhile, some warriors were built, and the island was explored. Hmm...the land was fertile, but it was soon found that the island lacked any good supply of fresh water.

A village was discovered to the south and west, but rather than send his troops to investigate it, Alexander held them back, deciding instead to plant a city aside it. That way, he knew the village people would be friendly, and there would be no chance of hostile yokels emerging.

The only luxuries on the isle of Greece were a source of fine silks. Alexander lamented the lack of other luxuries to keep his people happy, knowing he wouldn't be able to trade for any. The Spartans were satisfied, not caring even for the silk, but the other Greek peoples longed for more luxuries.

After Pottery was discovered, Alexander ordered his people to start learning how to write. He would need to have a chance of staying ahead in technology, and he had great visions of learning literature, and building these places of learning, libraries he would call them, in all his cities. Doing this would enable him to perhaps stay close to these...these barbarians he would have to compete with.

Athens built its granary, and then started on settlers; settlers until the island was filled with the presence of Greece. Six more cities were founded, though two were in the northern tundra, and good for little but fishing. It was soon heard that the Koreans had built the Colossus. It was not long after this that they also built the Great Lighthouse.

Alexander pushed on for Literature. He didn't think he had a realistic chance of getting The Great Library; he primarily wanted to fill his lands with libraries so that he might be able to compete in the ways of science.

Researching literature took a long time, during which time his cities languished. The Greeks knew not even how to make temples, and so they could do nothing but build military units. When Literature was finally discovered, all the cities were ordered to build libraries immediately. After this, Alexander ordered Athens to build the Great Library, hoping that perhaps he could get it.

The Greeks discovered Ceremonial Burial, Masonry, and Iron Working. News had come that the Mongols had built the Pyramids, and then the Oracle, but still no news came of any building The Great Library. Alexander became increasingly hopeful.



The kingdom of Greece in all its glory! Note the iron north of Pharsalos; its discovery was a great relief to Alexander. Just 13 turns until the Great Library, Alexander's nails were bitten until they were bloody, as he nervously awaited news of its completion.

Work continued on it, and as Greece discovered map making, a ship was sent to the island south-west, to found the city of Argos. Borders of another civilization, a yellow one, were known to be to the west, but Alexander ordered his ships not to travel there, delaying contact with them.

In the same year as Argos was founded, 250BC, a galley of the vile Korean people was sighted off the coast of Greece. The Greeks contacted them, and saw they also had contact with the Mongol people. They had many technologies that we didn't have, but they lacked one crucial one: the secret of Literature. The Great Library was just 4 turns away! Alexander rubbed his hands with glee. Self-building the Great Library on Deity level. Ahhh how nicely things were going.



Alexander had bought maps of the Koreans, and he could see their lands. They shared a land mass with the Mongols, and although their lands weren't as fertile as the lands of Greece, they did have a supply of fresh water.

Soon afterwards, a Mongol vessel approached the shores of Greece. Alexander met with this one called Temujin, and immediately declared war on him, vowing to rid the world of the Mongol people.

Meanwhile, the insidious Korean vessel sailed to the south part of the island of Argos, and founded a city there! Alexander was enraged, and immediately ordered swordsmen to be deployed to Argos to slaughter the evil Koreans there.

170BC was one of the great years in Greek history. For it was that year, that the Great Library of Athens was completed. Alexander held celebrations across the land. Immediately, Construction, The Wheel, Warrior Code, Mysticism, Philosophy, Code of Laws, Horseback Riding, Currency, and The Republic were discovered. Construction was particularly important, since it meant the Greek people could build aqueducts, to make their settlements grow beyond mere towns.

Alexander fired all his librarians and scientists, instead choosing to get all of his technology from the Great Library, and build up a surplus of money.

It was this same year that the Koreans dared to land a contingent of archers on the solemn territory of Greece! They were firstly bombarded with Greek catapults, and then cut to pieces with Greek swords.

Meanwhile, the Greek swords advanced on the Korean city of Inchon, which had been founded on Argos Isle. It was razed to the ground, and in 10AD Mycenae was built in its place.

To be continued...

-Sirp.

very nice! keep it coming with pics too!

<pessimist voice>
It'll all end in tears, I know it!

Keep going, yu can do it! Kick their butts!

Alexander surveyed the enemy lands. It was time to start striking at them. He started by landing hoplites on enemy territory, and pillaging their lands. Of course, he knew this would trigger the Greek Golden Age, and perhaps that would be best left until after the Greeks were in monarchy, but no, he had to have a way to strike at his enemies, and hoplite raids were it.

A hoplite was dropped on the isle of Ulsan, and it started pillaging the island. It was attacked duly by an archer, and won. triggering the Greek golden age. Unfortunately the hoplite was killed soon after. After a few more sorties, Alexander abandoned his pillaging idea. It wasn't efficient enough!

Alexander came up with a second plan. He noticed that the Koreans had just one source of iron:



Inch'on, circled in red, has under it the one and only known Korean source of iron. My ships can just reach it, following the path in green.

Alexander used his newly acquired medieval infantry, combined with a catapult to take the city, in 350AD. The Koreans have no more iron!

One of his more devious generals pointed out that with how small the island was, it could easily have both its tiles occupied, and be unassailable until the time of marines!

But Alexander refused. Such tactics would be dishonorable he countered. Our enemies may always meet us on the field of battle. No matter how dismal the situation became, Alexander vowed to never use such devious tactics.

Duly, Alexander came into contact with two more insidious races: The people of Zululand, and the people of India. The Indians seemed to be lead by some chap who thought that 'peace' could be achieved on the earth. Alexander declared war on the fool immediately, vowing never to see his face again.

Alexander was pleased to see that he was more powerful and more advanced than the peoples of India and Zululand. But now troops started landing with regularity on Greek soil; Alexander would lead his troops against them personally each time, always destroying them before they could attack.

The Greeks thought that with their Golden Age, they would stand a chance of acquiring the Hanging Gardens. Alas, it was not to be, they missed out on them by a handful of turns. After the Golden Age ended, Alexander ordered a revolution, after which he declared himself king of the new Greek monarchy.

Alexander was fending off the enemy hordes that were landing on Greece. Occasionally Inch'on came under serious threat, but Alexander would regularly reinforce it with more troops. However, the Greeks wanted to expand, and control more islands. The Zulu to the near West were an obvious target, but ships off their coast confirmed that their island was literally crawling with troops. Though the Zulu were primitive, they had many many swordmen and impi on their island.

Ironically, the iron under Inch'on was exhausted soon after it was captured. It now turned from being a very strategic holding, to a minor colony. I did keep reinforcing it, although it was captured once by the Koreans, but I regained it tw turns later.

With the discovery of gunpowder, came the necessity to expand: The Greeks had no source of saltpeter. Looking overseas, they saw where they might acquire some by force.



Attacking an enemy mainland would be difficult, but this shouldn't be so hard: just a colonial island. The Zulu would probably give him much more trouble over it than the Koreans, mused Alexander.

Of course, to get the saltpeter back to Greece, Alexander would have to discover navigation or magnetism, since the only routes through sea went through Zulu territory. Still, it would be good to have the source secured, and Alexander even considered setting up a 'training ground' on the island: rushing a barracks in the city, and then sending troops there to be upgraded, before ferrying them back to Greece.

But first, the job of capturing the city in the first place was at hand! This was achieved in 720AD:



Of course, as you can see, the evil Zulu were none-too-impressed with the concept of the city being in my hands, and they tried to dislodge me from it. They managed to inflict heavy losses on me, making me wish I had brought along more catapults. I managed to raze Ngome to the ground, but couldn't muster a force big enough to attack Intombe. The Zulu began focussing on this island now, as can be expected. It had to be reinforced often. A musketman was rushed in it, and he promoted to elite with all the fighting, but was later killed.

The next phase of the game arrived when the Great Library expired. Now the Greeks would have to research, all by themselves. Yet, I was playing Always War, on Deity, and surviving!

-Sirp.

keep it coming, the maps make it 300% better!

Jason

With the expiration of the Great Library, Alexander was forced to order his scientists to recommence research. He had a nice treasure chest of almost 3000 gold pieces with which to finance budgetary deficits in search of very high research levels.

By this stage it was fairly clear that the Mongols were the most powerful foe the Greeks would face. They had constructed the Pyramids, and had soared ahead of others in city size. Korea wasn't too far behind though, indeed, the Great Library of Athens was the only Great Wonder constructed outside of Karakorum or Seoul.



Meanwhile, the Indians and Zulu were lagging behind. Way behind. This wasn't good: Greece was having to research at third civilization prices instead of fourth of fifth. Alexander could understand the Zulu not researching; he could understand Shaka: a man of war, like himself. But this Ghandi fellow...he didn't fight, he didn't research...what was the man good for??

Alexander kept up his research program, trying to keep up, but starting to fall behind. Perhaps at this time, he should have sent troops to attack the Mongolian heartland, to try to disrupt their lead. But no, instead he decided to concentrate on siezing nearby colonies.

With all possible improvements built in most cities, Alexander could produce many troops. He started setting his eyes on overseas possessions.



Yes, those are horses just south of Indus. The Greeks didn't have a source of horses yet. Alexander was fairly content with the performance of his hoplites and medieval infantry thus far, but securing a source of horses would be an excellent addition to his resources.

The Indians were defending their city with a regular spearman. That's right, a spearman, still. Just one. The island fell without loss to Greece, and Alexander started looking further east.

Soon after, he attacked the next Indian island, a larger one, this time with mixed results.



Only just having acquired caravels, the size of forces that could be deployed on foreign soil was strictly limited. Although India still had mostly spearmen defenders and a few pikes, Alexander's limited forces failed to take the entire island. Bengal was captured soon after, but Punjab and Kolhapur held out. The mongols and Koreans started attacking this island soon after, and it was difficult to defend the cities I had taken, let alone attack more.

Meanwhile, over at saltpeter isle, the going was getting tough indeed. The Zulu kept tormenting the city, it was in a constant state of siege, the road to the saltpeter was pillaged again and again. It required rushing too: troops, and later, if it was ever to become valuable, it would need a harbor.

It may have been better to cut my losses and let it go. When behind on technology and desperately trying to catch up, rushing cannot be afforded. It was a cash sink, an expensive one at that. An unholdable colony that as yet had produced nothing for Greece.



The city is shown here just after a vicious Zulu attack. One MDI and one musketman are all that are left of the city's defenses. The workers in the city have fled south because it was thought the city might fall. The saltpeter supply has been pillaged.

Likewise, the city of Inch'on - the former iron island - was coming under increasing pressure. The Koreans and Mongols were attacking it again and again. Alexander was reinforcing his colonies, but it was straining his limited resources. Enemies landing on his homeland were typically dispatched without loss, because of the supplies of fresh troops and catapults there, but landings on colonies were harder to fight off economically.

Inch'on looked like it likewise might be lossed. Indeed, a force of two keshiks and a longbowman landed outside the city. After having just staved off an attack from the Koreans, the city had a catapult, a veteran hoplite, and an elite medieval infantry defending it.

The catapult bombarded one of the keshiks, and the MDI attacked the other one. History doesn't record how exactly the fight proceeded (i.e. I forgot), but the MDI ended up with just a single hitpoint left; narrowly defeating the keshik. Out of the dust of the battle arose this:



Pyrrhus to the rescue! I hadn't gotten a leader all game, despite numerous elite victories. It was nice to get one at last, although I had by now missed out on all the early medieval Wonders, including two that I thought could make a real difference to the shape of the game: Copernicus' Observatory and the Sistine Chapel. I was falling behind in science, and the Mongols had built CO. They also built Newton's University in the same city. This didn't help my cause at all.

Additionally, silks were the only luxury I still had. Having a happiness-helping wonder like the Sistine Chapel would have helped greatly indeed. There was still Bach's, but it was difficult to see me devoting resources to researching Music Theory of all things while in the middle of a desperate war.

Nevertheless, I'll take a great leader anytime, anyplace. Although this time or place wasn't the most opportune. Let's not forget that there were still an only-slightly injured veteran keshik and a fresh veteran longbowman outside the city, which was just defended by a hoplite and an almost-dead MDI.

I didn't want to spend the cash rushing a ship, so I sent one from Greece to try to pick Pyrrhus up. The city did hold...for now, and Pyrrhus made it back to Athens, where he sat, waiting for something to build.

to be continued...

keep going....

WOW! Always War on Deity!

Keep going, I will follow your story with interest.

- Physicist

(Scrolling up and down in desperate search for the "Revieve Updates to this Tread" link. Gimme updates, yes!)

As the years after the expiration of the Great Library went on, the bitter enemies of Greece, the Mongols and Koreans, started to pull away in terms of science. Alexander made a blunder when he overestimated the importance of oceanfaring, and saltpeter, and decided to go for the unnecessary technology of Navigation. This cost him much research.

To add insult to injury, soon after discovering Navigation, the saltpeter city of Paegam had to be abandoned, as the evil Zulu converged on it.



The advisor saying that became painfully familiar. The Mongols and Koreans had reached the Industrial age, and the Koreans being scientific meant they had nationalism.



That's right, I'm fighting riflemen with medieval infantry and hoplites.

The two cities pictured had to be abandoned, after yet more Mongol troops arrived. The Greek empire was diminishing fast, as Alexander tried oh-so-desperately to push his people into the industrial age. The core cities were still building medieval infantry, hoplites, and catapults.

What the Greeks really needed were cannons, but their saltpeter supplies had been captured. Worse, it was no longer safe for Greek ships to sail in the open seas, as the Mongols soon had ironclads. The Greeks couldn't build frigates either, because of their lack of saltpeter, and so had no response at all to the Mongol navy.

Saltpeter is most desired because it allows the building of cavalry and musketmen. Here I cared relatively little about either of them. I just wanted cannons and frigates, but no, no saltpeter for me.

I was matching medieval infantry, catapults, and hoplites, against cavalry and riflemen. That's right! Troops I could build from the beginning of the game were my best defensive unit, while my enemies had units from two full ages ahead. The Greeks were dismally behind, and catching up was looking harder-and-harder.

City after city was abandoned. Every colony the Greeks had taken was brutally ripped out of their hands.

Then some Mongol cavalry and riflemen landed outside Mycenae, on the Greek's second island. What was considered a core Greek city. It too had to be abandoned, and troops were consolidated back into Argos, which was desperately hoped would hold.



A caravel was used to ferry troops between Delphi and Argos, making sure to never stop in the open sea, for it would surely be destroyed by the Mongol ironclads.

The game was on a knife's edge. Indeed it was bordering on the hopeless. The Greek economy was just not productive enough to support the research needed. Desperate for a plan, Alexander decided he would research the unnecessary technology of economics, so he could build Adam Smith's Trading Company, with his one great leader. It would provide a little extra income. The extra turns spent on that were painful, but it did provide extra income. Perhaps enough to make a difference.

Soon another difficulty emerged: The Mongols and Koreans started bombarding Greece, destroying improvements. They would bombard every unprotected place they could find. Worse, they would deny Greek workers to work on coastal tiles, badly damaging commerce.



Catapults could fight back a tiny amount, but there was only one real way to deal with this: put units covering every target tile. That was alot of units, but it needed to be done. That way they would stop their bombardments.

Of course, I would leave a few tiles to allow enemies to land troops: doing otherwise would be exploitive. Other than that, every coastal tile would have to be covered with troops. I don't know why the AI is so loathe to bombard cities. All they would have had to do is bombard the major cities of Athens and Sparta back to the stone age, and the game would be well and truly over. But they didn't.

Yet, having that many units is expensive. Very expensive.



47 gold on unit costs! In a monarchy! What I could do with that much extra cash. But I needed the units. How did this situation ever become so desperate?

Could I have attacked the Mongol heartland earlier on and reduced their power? Possibly. But I didn't, I played conservatively, and now I was in desperate trouble.

The city of Argos was under constant threat. It couldn't afford the luxury of having troops on its improvements, and so duly its lands were indeed blasted back to the stoneage. Then enemy navies blasted the city itself, as enemy troops landed. If only it could last out to the industrial age, I could make it a fortress of riflemen, and the city itself could surely stand. Surely.

It was blasted again and again. I had to ferry troops over constantly, to fight off the attackers who were landing. Its walls were destroyed, and its population killed in the bombardments. It was left without a single improvement. Finally, still 10 turns adrift of the industrial age, the situation became hopeless. Mongol cavalry attacked the city, reducing it to just one hoplite defender, and a few catapults. Mongol ironclads blocked the strait of Argos, so the caravel could not ferry reinforcements in.

The last Greek city overseas would have to be abandoned.



Things were looking grim indeed. But the people of Greece would never surrender, never give in. They were still alive, their core cities still intact. They vowed to keep fighting until either Alexander or Temujin lay dead.

I managed to keep going by telling myself that, "If I manage to win this, it will be my greatest game of civilization ever." If. A big if, but it might just happen. Maybe.

Indeed, there was yet a faint, very faint positive side to affairs in Greece. A messenger arrived in the royal court, to tell Alexander of news that the Mongol people had fallen into chaos, into anarchy, their government was being overthrown. Alexander knew that the Mongols had used this detestable form of government known as a 'republic', where the people actually got a say in the running of affairs.

Perhaps they were going to now become a monarchy, declaring Genghis Khan king over them? But no, he was told, they were forming a government known as 'communism'. 'Communism?' asked Alexander. "What is this 'communism'?"

A few minutes later, Alexander was laughing uproariously, as the way the Mongol government would now work was explained to him. They really were stupid....to use a government form like that!

Perhaps there was still a faint hope for the Greeks. Perhaps.

-Sirp.

Wow, getting better and better! Makes me want to try a game like this .

Anyways, keep it up!

Jason

I admire the fact that even though you're struggling against the odds, you still go on un-daunted. Bravo. May you yet be victorious.

The Greeks acquired Nationalism as expected, being a scientific civilization, upon entry into the industrial age. This meant they could finally build an up-to-date military unit: the rifleman.

Cities switched from building wealth, hoplites, and medieval infantry to building rifles. There was perhaps hope yet.

Progress towards steam power was slow. It was estimated to be going to take around 25 turns! Far too long to wait. Yet that was at fast as it could be done. All cities were optimized for maximum commerce. Coastal tiles were worked everywhere, even when it meant giving up two shields. Enemy ships sailed over the seas though, denying commerce. It's incredibly irritating how enemy units can plant themselves on a worker's tile, and the city govenor will automatically reassign the tile, without you getting a chance to change it before production is calculated.

To have any chance of winning, I decided I would need coal. There was just one hill on my homeland that could have it: the others had iron, or gold. A slim chance indeed. The only other hope would it being nearby. I could stuff a couple of galeons full of riflemen and a settler, rush them over there, and then rush a harbor. Another slim hope of course, but it would have to be tried. Coal would give me a chance to take control of the seas again. The Mongols had at least twenty ironclads in their navy, so even if I did get coal it wouldn't be easy, but I would have a shot. That's all I was asking for, a shot.

Soon enough, I sighted Mongol transports. Transports! This meant they had Combustion, which meant they could also build destroyers and were possibly near to getting tanks. It also meant they could now land serious forces on my soil. Indeed they did.



Fighting off these attacks was difficult, especially if my catapults weren't nearby. I had 13 catapults in service, and a substantial stack of them were needed to hurt a rifleman.

My unit count was very delicate: I had just enough troops to do MP duty in my cities, and keep enemy ships from bombarding my coastline. My economy couldn't afford to support more units than this. When I lost units in battle, or had to temporarily relocate them, this opened up more possible landing spots for enemy troops, and targets for coastal bombardment. Alternatively, I could remove Military Police from cities, and set entertainers.

The stack of cards were held up for a while, but as the Mongols used more and more transports, and the Koreans, Indians, and Zulu started to also land bigger stacks on my territory, about eight turns out from steam power, things began to unravel.

I made the mistake of leaving my iron hill uncovered for one turn, to deal with a Korean stack. The Zulu siezed the opportunity to land a stack of units there. At the same time, the Mongols landed a stack of cavalry in the south. Expunging them each from my homeland would not be easy.



To make matters worse, the road from Athens to Pharsalos had been destroyed by ships. This made moving catapults up to deal with the Zulu a non-trivial process. In fact, Pharsalos was short of defenders, and there was a chance it could fall this very turn. With a rifleman in there it shouldn't, but there was a chance.

The Zulu decided to come off the hill, and go for Knossos. A costly battle ensued, but they were destroyed. Yet now there were more positions vacant for enemy landings, and some of my cities had to set entertainers.

The situation was looking grimmer and grimmer, as more enemy units arrived, and more coastal improvements were destroyed. Even if there was coal in Greece, survival still might be out of the question.

The Greeks finally did make it to steam power. Alexander ordered an immediate report to be written on known sources of coal. He crossed his fingers, waiting for the report to be finished. Finally, the report arrived: There was no coal in Greece. There was coal in the Mongol city of Mandalgovi, near where the city of Inch'on, the iron island captured from the Koreans stood. Greece had tried to attack Mandalgovi once, but had failed badly. There was also coal near Umtata. Right near where the Greek saltpeter city had stood.

There was also coal on the second island of India, in land the Greeks once held. But no coal in Greece.

Alexander ordered research of Electricity, at minimum science. He and his soldiers would never surrender. They would defend their island home to the last drop of blood. Indeed, the last drop of blood is exactly what the Mongols and Zulu would take from them.



The Mongols were coming in force. They would be difficult to stop. Alexander vowed to hold out as long as he possibly could. They would have to tear the scepter of power from his cold, clingy fingers.



It was a sad day in Greece. One of their mainland cities had fallen to the Mongol horde. Worse still, the Mongols had bombers which they moved to Knossos, and used to bomb Pharsalos. Bombers! All hope was gone, yet Alexander would fight on. He ordered his troops to recapture Knossos at any cost. Every rifleman and medieval infantry unit that could be spared were sent to besiege Knossos.

A battle was fought. A brutal, brutal battle. And there the game mocked me, Greece came one round short of recapturing Knossos.

The horde proceeded onto Thermopylae. Their cavalry massing against it and attacking it. The Greek riflemen stood bravely, but they couldn't resist the Mongol hordes, and soon Thermopylae fell under the heel of the mighty Khan.



Alexander rallied his troops, gathering them into every city, determined to hold out for as long as he could. Til the last man. He would die rather than be captured.

The roads to Pharsalos were cut off, leaving it defenseless. It was bombed until its soldiers were down to one red bar each, and then the Mongol cavalry came. They destroyed the city completely, burning it to the ground. Alexander vowed revenge, rallying his troops to fight hard in Athens.



His troops did fight hard. Athens did hold out longer than Delphi, which fell to the Zulu coming from the west. But finally, it could hold no longer, and it too fell to the horde.



Alexander would never surrender, and he fled from the burning city, establishing his capital in Sparta. Surrounded by the mighty Spartans, he renewed his vow never to give in to these evil enemies. Sparta was surrounded on every side by enemies. The Koreans wanted to talk with Alexander and offer terms of peace. "Never!" exclaimed Alexander. "Peace would be like surrender. We would never do that!"

The Spartans did fight hard. Three riflemen promoted to elites against the Mongol cavalry. It looked like the city might hold, for a while. Alexander would certainly not surrender it. They would have to kill him. That's exactly what they did. His body was found clutching a rifle in one hand, and his scepter in the other.

.

Well, much couldnt be expected from diety, lol. I havn't even tried it!

It was a good game though, very enjoyable!

Jason

Well, this was a fun game. Getting the Great Library was a good bonus for me, and it seemed like I had a shot, but as soon as it expired, I just fell way, way behind.

In retrospect, what I think I should have done was use the time when the Great Library gave me tech parity to build up a huge invasion force to try to strike at the Mongol core.

The Mongols had built lots of Wonders; if I could have destroyed their capital, I would have slowed the technology pace alot. Perhaps enough to win the game.

Of course, building enough troops to capture their capital would have been a non-trivial task. I think that perhaps 30-40 MDIs would have been needed, since as soon as I landed, they'd swarm over and attack.

Without any trading at all, keeping up with the AIs on Deity past Great Library expiration is very difficult. Of course, I did manage it against the Zulu and Indians, keeping a lead over them. This was one of my main problems though. If they had stayed up with the Mongols and Koreans, then I would have had bigger discounts on research, and a better chance of keeping up with them.

I might try this variant again another time. Maybe with the Vikings next time. Their civilization attributes would be mediocre for it, but their unique unit would be very good.

However, I am thinking that the variant might be impossible without acquisition of the Great Library. I am a little dubious about the quality of any variant which requires the Great Library (or any wonder) for victory.

I would like to try going back to a save in the middle of the game and seeing if I could take out the Mongol capital, however I'm too drained to do that in the forseeable future, if anyone wants the saves to try it themselves, please let me know

Also, I am interested in perhaps starting a succession game of a similiar nature to this one; either on emperor, deity, or somewhere in between. If anyone is interested, please reply stating your interest.

-Sirp.

Also, I am interested in perhaps starting a succession game of a similiar nature to this one; either on emperor, deity, or somewhere in between. If anyone is interested, please reply stating your interest.

Click to expand...

I would enjoy the challenge. I have won on Monarch and am winning on Emperor. May I request though that we play without corruption, as that is how I am used to playing.

BTW, I only have vanilla Civ3, no PTW.

i would like to play, though I am not nearly as good, and actually suck .

Jason

Sirp, you should have gathered ALL your units in ATHENS when the island was invaded, and i mean all units, including the units defending the other cities. This way Athens would have lasted a lot of years more. Anyway this was a great read

@Pretzel: Any ideas for a succession game of that tone that I might have have been flushed away by, (1) me not having that much free time, (2) there being an overload of high-warfare, high-difficultly succession games at the moment.

Look at cpp's game in the succession game forum if you want to try one though. I doubt he'd even consider changing the game rules though; I know I wouldn't.

@JoseM: Certainly turtling in one city would have ensured survival for a while longer, but it wasn't the way of Alexander! He would always try to hold onto his empire, rather than cowering in his capital, prolonging his life. I tried to counter-attack the evil hordes rather than just defend!

@Jason: Well yeah I do think a Deity game would be a teensy bit over your head, but I am planning on starting up a regent or monarch training game soon if you're interested. It'll likely have a balanced-but-looking-warlike approach.

-Sirp.

Jason: If you want to play in my training day game, it's now open for signups. See http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?threadid=45875

Places are limited! It takes place on monarch level, and will hopefully get players up to the stage where they can beat monarch and emperor consistently.

-Sirp.