COTM 04 Spoiler 2: Entering Industrial Ages

[MiniMe]

I finished the game by Domination in 1260 and never saw the dawn of the Industrial Age. For me 1260 is a decent date, but in general the Middle Ages was full of mistakes. I had a decent opening, a newborn Republic in 1000BC, but made plenty of mistakes. Several of these decisions seemed well founded at the time but with the privelige of hindsight come out as strategical blunders. It also helps to read other players' reports... Here are the main ones:

1. Triggered my Golden Age way too late in 590AD.
2. Too many Horsemen too early, anticipating a mass upgrade to Knights.
3. Not going to war with all my Horsemen earlier on. As it ended up, I went to war with them anyway since Aztec declared on me in 110AD. And they worked perfectly well. I could have secured the continent a long time before it was actually done (900AD).
4. Messing up research. Too many standing forces compared to economy. Didnt trigger early republic GA and missed out on an important early boost. Researching MA techs took WAY TOO long. Had a Great Library and stopped research for a while. Discovering Military Tradition post 900AD.
5. Tried SO hard to contact other continent early on. Sent out batches of 6-9 suicide galleys and suicide it became. Fine style harakiri. I counted 21 galleys lost just to find a continent even more backwards than we were. Well, to be honest one of the initial galleys made it over to the Byzantines, but I clumsily placed it in a sea square the next turn and it sank

In general I have problems timing the important events properly. Will have to work on it.

All in all an enjoyable game, of course. Was not too unhappy with end date 1260. Think Roland beat me with one - 1 - turn Was expecting finishing date at 1255, but a last minute flip made that impossible.

 

[jazz_man]

hi!

Middle ages were full on hack & slash, i've decided to go for conquest. Managed to get a convoy going for the first time ever in 500ad and took out France and Germany with knights. Decided to not mess with the Byzzies since they've got the scary dromon.

Deliberately slowed down technology race to get the most of my knights and later cavalry beating up the enemies.

The snapshot is from 1330ad, when i reached the spoiler 2 criteria. The Celts, my main contender has just seen defeat.

cheers,
john

 

[Megalou]

Anyway, to be a little constructive, here's what I do all the time, to keep from getting dizzy and disorientated from getting thrown from one side of the world to another all the time: Right-click on the stack of units, then hold down SHIFT and click on each of the units in the stack. Then you will get to manage each unit in the stack in the order you clicked on them. Now, of course, another case of annoying programming pops up: When you SHIFT-click on a unit, the order of the units in the stack is sometimes shuffled, so after a while, if the stack is big enough, you don't know what units you've already clicked on. The end result is usually that there are some units left behind with movement-points left. And if the stack is big enough for you to have to scroll through the list while SHIFT-clicking, it gets even worse, 'cause then often you will have to scroll up and down after clicking on each individual unit!

If you have a large stack, you can use "Fortify All", get dizzy once and then "Wake all".

/Megalou (not playing)

 

[Fat_Blerk]

Help! This is probably the wrong forum so I`ll be told off but....I am have had a problem with this COTM. I have got to 420AD and was at war with the Aztecs. I signed peace and am asking for the town Tula back as part of the agreement. When I sign peace the game locks up completely. Have tried it 4 times now and the same thing happens every time. Can someone test the attached file and see if its my laptop (Win2000 prof) or the game. Hope the attachment is in the right format....

 

[grs]

You should rather pm ainwood than post a save here, because the game is not finished, but as I already submitted I gave it a try and made peace like you said. No lockup for me.

 

[Roland Ehnström]

If you have a large stack, you can use "Fortify All", get dizzy once and then "Wake all".

Yes, I use "fortify all" and "wake all" a lot, and it is a nice help. But only if you want to move all units in the stack, which is often not the case. And often you want to move the units in a certain order, for example bombarding with Artillery first, THEN attacking with Tanks. (To do this without getting dizzy, you first need to shift-click on all the Artillery, then bombard (one Artillery at a time - also very tedious and time-consuming), then shift-click on all the Tanks, and then attack with them.)

-- Roland

 

[DJMGator13]

Link to AA Spoiler

Mayan American War
As the Middle Ages start I am in the process of repositioning my troops from the Aztec campaign to start an offensive against America. In 390BC I ask America to leave my territory or declare war and they oblige and declare war on me. I sign up the Iroquois in a MA against America. I capture my first city in 370BC but the war progresses very slowly. The RNG is not in my favor. I trigger my GA in 290BC and receive the massive uprising report the next turn. I had completely developed my area up to my neighbors so I had no trouble with the barbs. I learn Feudalism in 230BC and capture Boston in 210BC.

The RNG still does not favor me and after losing about 15 horses over several turns I finally capture Washington with the ToA in it. Somehow the RNG gods must have been distracted by someone else’s game because I generate my first great leader on the capture of Washington. Knowing that I am the tech leader and have a superior number of units I only load two MDIs into my army so that I can transport them in a caravel. I capture four more cities over the next three turns, before signing up Spain in a MA to go after an American city north of Spain. In 50BC I learn Monotheism. By 10AD I had captured all the American cities except for the one north of Spain so I make peace.




Mayan Iroquois Spanish War
After the length of the American campaign I decide to wait for Chivalry to be discovered which is completed in 110AD. This year also saw the completion of my FP. I upgrade 8 horsemen to knights and ask the Iroquois’ to remove their almost 20 units from my lands, not counting some settlers that I allowed to get to the southern tundra. Surprisingly they agree. The next turn they move them back into my lands but their Mounted Warriors are now separated from their spears and archers, so I ask them to leave again and this time they declare war. I succeed in taking out their mounted warriors the first turn and the archers and spears the second turn. Spain has too many troops in my lands as well so in 210AD I ask them to leave, they refuse and declare war. By 350AD I have capture 12 cities from IRQ and SPN and generated my second great leader. Again I make a 2 man army.

After losing close to 10 galleys I finally spot land, but no borders in 360 AD. This turns out to be the large island East of our starting continent. I capture 3 more cities before an Iroquois galley that has been sailing around my coast since the beginning of the war finally unloads a single mounted warrior next to an undefended city. Since they are down to one city in the southern tundra area I make peace with them gaining nothing but not losing control of a city. In 400 AD Spain is down to 3 cities so I slow my research rate on Education until after I can capture the last 3 cities and culturally expand them from the ToA. I complete the Knights Templar in 440AD and have captured all the Spanish cities but they are still in the game with a settler in boat. Spain has 2 galleys that I can see but with my RNG luck I decide against trying a galley on galley attack so I make peace with the Spanish sailing settler.



The Southern Tundra Expedition
The Aztecs and Americans have done what I wanted and built some cities in the southern tundra area, so I declare on the Aztecs again and capture 3 of their 7 cities on the first turn. In 490AD the Iroquois’ who only have 2 cities themselves destroys the Americans. On the same turn I eliminate the Aztecs from the game. In 500 AD I still have 9 turns left on my peace deal with the Iroquois and since Spain is still afloat I decide to protect my reputation in case I discover the other continent before Spain is eliminated. So for the second time in the game I take about a 10-turn rest where there is nothing major happening. I have connected most of my cities at this stage so I automate the majority of my workers for the rest of the game. In 580AD I learn Astronomy and set my sights on Navigation and start upgrading my galleys to caravels. I position my fleet off both coast lines and load them with units while waiting for Navigation.



In 600AD I re-declare on the Aztecs and eliminate them from the game in one turn. In 660AD Spain finally unloads the settler from the galley which has been at sea for over 200 years. I immediately declare war and kill that damn settler. Spain is finally gone. I learned Navigation on the same turn and I am ready to launch my fleet.

Sailing the Vast Ocean
I have been positioning my fleet in sea tiles at the edge of ocean tiles throughout the known world as pictured below.



In 670AD I finally discover the second continent when I met the MON and the BYZ. The next turn I meet the FRA, GER, HIT and SUM. That didn’t take long. This is a backwards continent tech-wise and I no longer care about my reputation.

Claiming 1100 tiles in 300 Years
Since my ships were loaded with troops I drop them off in BYZ territory (closest crossing point) and declare war when asked to remove my troops. I meet the CELTs in 690 AD. I acquire complete world map and declare war on GER in 700AD. I own about 1100 tiles and need to double my current size for a Domination victory.



The rest of the game is steady progression of captured cities. Since I landed forces on both sides of the 2nd continent I attack BYZ and GER at the same time. I capture about 15 cities by 760AD when the Mongols declare war on me. BYZ is down to 3 cites on the northern tundra island, so I make peace with them gaining 2 of the 3 cities.



I reduce science to 0% hire a scientist gaining 434 gpt and begin buying temples in my newly conquered cites. I issue DOW on France in 780AD. By 890AD I have capture about 20 more cities from FRA, GER and MON, when SUM declares war on me. I also eliminate Germany on this turn and sign up the CELT against the SUM. I eliminate FRA in 900 AD and declare on the HIT.



By 970AD I capture 11 cites mostly from the HIT, although I do eliminate the BYZ during this time. The HIT are down to 7 cities all on the northern tundra island and most of them are size 1, so I make peace with them and acquire 5 of the 7 cities in the deal. AS 980AD starts I need only 50 tiles for Domination victory so I position my troops around 4 Celtic cities and issue DOW on the IBT. I capture the 4 cities and with 3 other cites that culturally expand I achieve Domination victory in 990AD. My second straight xOTM which finished pre-1000AD.

Here’s a look at the final map.

 

[Rallonian]

Open Class
Research: I had to research everything in the middle ages myself due to the slow tech pace of the other nations. I started by getting engineering, fuedalism and then invention so that I could build Leo's. I then went for monothism followed by chivalry. I had decided earlyer that knights would do for this game, considering the difficulty and the slow tech pace of others, so I then beelined for Navigation at full speed. Upon discovering navigation research was turned off completely, 20 percent of funds being diverted to luxuries and the rest to the treasury to upgrade horsemen.


I was aiming for a conquest victory so when I discovered Chalcedon on the one tile island I was slightly discouraged. However, I realised what could be done and quickly put my plan into action.
I knew that I had to get Chalcedon while sueing for peace but at its current size (5) this wasn't oging to happen. So (while carefully avoiding capturing the Byzantine capital as to not make it move to Chalcedon) I moved a caravel to every tile that the city could work, effectively starving the people out. When Chalcedon was size 2, I sued for peace and they happily gave it to me.

Conquest from then on went fairly smoothly having accounted for the entire home island, the Germans, French, Zulu and majority of the Byzantines by 690AD. The Hittites wern't in the best position either. My only concern as to what might hinder my inevitable victory was the 2 Byzantine cities on the northern tundra island. And hinder my victory they did.
In 820AD the only team left was the Byzantines and to my knowledge they had one city left on the island with 3 of my knights on the doorstep. The next turn I destroyed the city preparing for celebrations but alas, Theodora still lived. I decided to talk to her to see if I could get any hints as the weather there was a city or just a random dromon with a settler on board, and the fact that there was a worker for sale confirmed my worste fears. She had a city and it wasn't in sight, meaning at best another 2 turns until victory. I had rushed explorers in 2 captured towns in the north the previose turn and they quickly found the source of my greif, 2 turns from 2 of my knights. So I quickly rode forth, dispatching of this pestillence quickly only to find that, Oh wait, theres still more! My knights rode into the black to find nothing and my hopes for grandure continued their slide into obscurity. I ended the turn and while a lonely Byzantine spearman moved a red border appeared on the horizon! My knights ran forward (now both with on 2 bars of health) and victory was mine! It could have been a lot worse in hindsite as I was lucky with the roles on these last two and there were quite a few Byzantine spearmen around this town dispatching barbarians, lucky for me, not defending the town.

The Byzantine's were defeated in 880AD triggering a somewhat belated conquest victory for the empire of the Almighty Mayan's!