Deity - First Attempt

[dalgo]

A Good Start

After many games at Monarch, Emperor and Demigod levels I decided to step up to Deity for the very first time. I knew it would be extremely difficult because of the extra AI units and their 40% discount. I chose the Inca because of their strong traits; Agriculture and Expansionist and their UU is the Chasqui Scout which should give me a quick start with early contacts and technologies.

Specs: Huge, Continents with 12 Civilizations and Restless barbarians.

I spent some time rolling a good start, and this was a beauty. I started on a river beside a cattle resource, and then another one appeared when I founded Cuzco.

I set research at zero, depending on my scouts to discover new technologies, and they did really well finding nomad settlers; two in the first five goody huts, but no techs. The others were maps x 2 and 25 gold. The scouts also found a barbarian encampment that is blocking one of the free settlers from travelling home. The first civ encountered were the Chinese, who had nothing to trade, followed by the English and I swapped my Masonry for Bronze Working + 35 gold.

Still no tech from the huts, I found a warrior, more maps and a third settler. I met the Vikings and traded Masonry plus 116 gold for their Alphabet, so I was able to start building a Curragh in my first coastal town. With my poor haul of free technologies I decided to start a minimum run at Writing. My third free settler headed for a lux (spices) close to Chinese territory that I needed to grab, and just as it got there a barbarian horseman came out of the fog and killed it. Fortunately I had another settler available to fill that gap. My Chasqui Scouts are good for exploring but are weak fighters so I bought Warrior Code (for 223 gold) to allow me to build archers.

While my scout was passing a Chinese town I was astonished to see it attacked and razed by the Vikings. I had no idea they were at war (no embassies yet) and that is rather early in the game. It is good for me of course provided I can stay out of it. My scout in the far North met Babylon and for once I was ahead of them in tech. They offered me 90 gold for Alphabet but I declined. They are the exception though, I am way behind most civs in tech and I saw a message that the Hittites had completed the Great Library while I am still 23 turns away from learning Writing. I met Russia and they were four techs up on me including Iron Working which had now got cheap enough for me to buy; and I had no iron! There was none even close. England didn't have any either which was small consolation as they were building the Statue of Zeus. If they complete it I might consider a pre-emptive strike just with archers to capture it, except that they are building it in London which is the farthest city from my territory. At least I had horses; when I could afford it I bought The Wheel and there were horses only two tiles from Cusco, already hooked up.

 

[dalgo]

At 1000 BC I had a very impressive 16 productive towns but my outlook was grim. To my north was England who had just completed Zeus so would soon be producing Ancient Cavalry, and China on my eastern border had iron and swordsmen while I only had archers.

When I finally researched Writing I was able to get a better idea of the tech progress of my neighbours. England, China and the Vikings were up five techs on me, Russia three and Babylon one. Russia was the only one with Code of Laws but wouldn't part with it at any price, and no one had Literature (in spite of the fact that the Great Library had already been built on the other continent). Since my scouts hadn't found any techs I would have to get them myself. So I started on Lit at max, due in 11 turns. That would at least give me libraries and hopefully something to trade. I also bought Horse Riding and a couple of embassies. I noticed that China didn't have iron in their capital; maybe the Vikings have cut their road? One of my scouts confirmed that soon after.

With one turn to go for Literature I checked with my Foreign Advisor, and still no one else had it so I would have the local monopoly. I traded between turns. England gave me Mathematics and 198 gold for Literature; Russia gave me three techs (Map Making, Mysticism and Code of Laws) as well as 116 gold for Literature + Mathematics, and the Vikings gave me Philosophy for Lit + 18 gold. I still wasn't fully caught up; both England and China knew Monarchy, but at least I could start researching Republic to get out of Despotism. I also switched just about every town to building libraries. Soon after that China built the Great Wall in Beijing, which was bad news for me as every one of their border towns immediately sprouted walls. I knew they were building it of course but I'd hoped someone on the other continent would beat them to it.

 

[dalgo]

I got the message about a ‘massive barbarian uprising’ which meant someone had reached the Middle Ages, but it wasn’'t one of my local civs as they were all short of Currency. Then while I was dealing with the barbarians one of my exploring curragh on the other side of my continent was automatically moved by the Russians – and ended up on the coast of the second continent. It was immediately attacked by a barbarian galley but survived – and I met the Hittites.

The Hittites were already in the Middle Ages – as were England, China and the Vikings. Babylon and Russia were at a similar tech level to my Incas. I would have liked to build an embassy with the Hittites but it was too expensive (195 gold). Does that mean they hold a large area? If my curragh survives the next turn I should start to meet the remaining civs in the game.

While checking the trading screens I noticed that Babylon has spare iron they wished to trade – and they had no horses. Fortunately I did have two sources for horses! However it was a risky deal as the trade route went through English and Chinese waters so would be broken if either went to war with me or Babylon. But if I waited they might sell that iron to England so I made the trade. My horses for their iron + 19 gold (all they had), and then started building swordsmen.

Two more barbarian galleys attacked my curragh but it bravely fought them off. I will try and send some galleys across to help but that is a slow process so for the moment my lone curragh will have to explore by itself. I renamed it the Endeavour in honour of its achievement. Republic came in and I got there ahead of both Russia and Babylon so there were trades available. Russia gave me 788 gold and Babylon gave me Polytheism, a lux and 17 gold. Only two techs to go to reach the Middle Ages but that will have to wait as I revolted and drew 5 turns of anarchy.

I met the Maya and Spain. The Maya were the most advanced civ yet as they were building Leonardo'’s Workshop, meaning they have at least three Middle Ages techs. Spain was also in the Middle Ages but they didn't know the Republic so I traded it to them for Currency and Construction, and in 270 BC I entered the Middle Ages.

I am falling seriously behind in tech. I can only afford to research at 30% and the other civs are way ahead of me. The English started building Knights Templar which means they know Chivalry. I’'m building up my supply of swordsmen but they won’t be much use against knights! I just hope no one has traded iron to England. My own iron deal is about to expire.

 

[dalgo]

At 50 BC it is time to go to war with England. The iron deal ends this turn but I had already built 17 swordsmen and have 11 more under construction. The plan is to provoke England into declaring war on me and then see if I can re-negotiate my deal with Babylon. I will lose my sea route but I am hoping there will still be a land route through China. Then I will look for allies.

Getting England to declare war wasn't hard, there were English warriors passing through my territory and when I asked them to leave they declared war. Next I attacked one of those warriors with a Chasqui scout that I had saved just for this occasion, resulting in:

That enabled me to reduce the lux slider to 10% and I reduced the science slider to zero to give me more gold per turn to make deals with. The Babylon iron was still available but it looked like I could either trade my horses for that, or for a declaration of war, but not both. However my main target was China. If they attacked me while I was fighting England it would be game over so I really needed an alliance. I got it for 38 gpt (ouch). Back to Babylon and I made the iron/horses trade so I could keep building swords. I was still able to increase the tech slider back to 40%, Monotheism in 5 turns.

Two English Ancient Cavalry attacked a fortified spear on a mountain. The first retreated and the second lost. The redlined AC was in range and I killed it with a horseman. That left my horseman exposed but I'll swap a horse for an AC any day. Fortunately it wasn't attacked, although I did lose two ships. My productive cities are inland so I don't have much of a navy; in fact my sole remaining ship is the Endeavour who has just met the Mongols. They are level on tech with me, which means they are in the Middle Ages but haven't researched any techs yet.

For the moment I am waiting behind my walls to see what the English have to throw at me, but I might have to change that tactic. Two Chinese Riders attacked an English spear on my border. Riders are the Chinese UU, same as knights but with a movement of three. I can't let them take too much English territory so I'll have to move out sooner than I expected. This is the map at the start of the war:

When I researched Monotheism I got there ahead of three civs on my own continent (Russia, Babylon and the Vikings) as well as the Mongols. The Mongols had nothing to offer but the others were very keen to do a deal. Russia made the best offer so I gave them Monotheism for Feudalism, 76 gold and 16 gpt. Next I got Engineering and an alliance against England from the Vikings for Mono plus 20 gpt, and finally Babylon joined in the war against England for Monotheism. The English are now at war with everyone they know (they have no contact with Russia) so for the moment I am safe from them signing anyone up against me. I can also start building pikes, trebs and medieval infantry.

My first assault was on the town of Norwich. My six catapults took 1 hp off each of the two defending spears and I captured the town for the loss of a swordsman. An English longbowman (not an archer as I'd thought) retaliated by killing one of my swords but was injured and my horseman finished him off next turn. The Endeavour met the Celts, they didn't have much but I was short of gold so I swapped Engineering for Monarchy plus 48 gold. That leaves only one civ that I've yet to meet. An annoying ancient cavalry attacked my stack and killed one of my swords, and then killed the horseman I sent after it. Still at least the English only get one of them every five turns while I am churning out units at a great rate in my Golden Age. Just as well too, I lost two more horses that were unable to kill a red-lined AC.

I captured another English town in the north but it was slow work with longbowmen harassing my large stack of units. Further south in the snow my efforts to eliminate two small English towns were frustrated even though they were only defended by regular spears. I was trying to take them with a minimum attacking force and it wasn't working. The English were able to rush new defenders every turn. To make matters worse the Chinese decided they wanted those towns too and sent a dozen Riders into my territory; past my weakly defended southern towns. Also war weariness had set in and I had to dial back my research. I had been hoping to use my GA to get my next tech (Theology) but that won't happen now. I had a look at the trading screens in the hope of picking up a bit of extra cash but the only civs that I could sell a tech to were broke. My rather depleted stack of units reached the northern city of York only to find it was defended by a musketman! That meant England already know Gunpowder; and they have saltpetre.

 

[Toxicman007]

Subscribing!
By the way, that map looks strikingly similar to one I played a few months ago, I believe I had the same starting position as the Chinese in your game. I ended up winning a Domination victory (although I wasn't on Deity).
Are you aiming for any particular victory?

 

[dalgo]

Are you aiming for any particular victory?

At this stage probably Domination but first I have to survive

 

[dalgo]

This is the Chinese stack of doom that is now in my territory. At the moment I am blocking them from passing through with a barrier of workers, but if they ever get annoyed and turn on me it would be the end of the game.

The assault on York went very well. My attack force consisted of 2 trebuchets, 7 catapults, 3 medieval infantry, 4 swordsmen (all injured), 4 horsemen and 3 archers. My first treb took 1 hp off the regular musket revealing a 2nd musket. The next treb took 1 hp off that revealing a 3rd musket My seven cats then removed another 3 hp off those muskets leaving two of them red-lined. Then the medieval infantry won two out of three battles against the wounded muskets and an archer accounted for the third. That left only a longbow defending and a horseman killed that, razed the city and collected 7 English workers. Meanwhile in the south I finally captured Manchester and moved on towards Cambridge. If I can remove that quickly it will hopefully cause those Chinese troops to return home.

My original aim had been to capture London along with the Statue of Zeus, and also the Great Lighthouse but that was now out of the question and my battered stack retreated to neutral territory where it could heal and be reinforced. My southern troops finally took the second English town. War weariness was so bad I had to drop my science rate to 10% but my alliances still have some time to run. I moved my strong stack of units to attack Nottingham (just ahead of a squad of 10 Chinese riders) and a smaller group of medieval infantry and pikes to the outskirts of Hastings. I was also moving settlers forward to take advantage of any empty land.

Nottingham fell quickly, it was only defended by spears and I had all my bombardment units available. Hastings though had several muskets and I soon gave up after losing two medieval infantry. I may have to wait a couple of turns to bring in my main task force. Meanwhile though as an unexpected bonus Nottingham had a luxury resource (incense) and this helped some of my unhappy cities. My Golden Age ended and my cash flow went negative. I have zero gold and am losing 50 gold per turn even though the tax slider is at 60%. I abandoned research completely and disbanded some obsolete units. At the same time my alliance with the Chinese ended and to my surprise they made peace with England the same turn. They had a heap of riders in English territory (I had only just beaten them to Nottingham) and I was expecting them to go on to take London and other major English cities leaving me with a strong Chinese presence on both sides. So that peace deal was extremely good news for me.

My alliance with the Vikings still has a few turns to run though so I'll keep fighting. With my bombardment units now available I made short work of Hastings and replaced the city with my own settler. I lost my iron deal with Babylon and soon after that English knights showed up. I wonder where they got their iron from! Hopefully they won't have time to build many before I can make peace. I replaced Nottingham with my own settler, there was too much chance of it flipping if it retained English citizens and it controlled an important lux. On my eastern border Chinese riders were returning home while Scandinavian archers were heading the other way for battle with the English. Is that a good idea, archers against knights, well good luck anyway!

 

[dalgo]

I finally researched Theology, Printing Press was next. At the same time Scandinavia offered to renew our alliance against England. No thanks. My assault force had reached Oxford and I was very pleased to see it was only defended by spears. This would be the last battle of the war. My trebs and cats red-lined two of the three defending spears and it was an easy victory. I also defeated a knight that had been landed by a galley and an ancient cavalry that had attacked one of my towns. I used several elite troops in a last ditch effort to gain a Leader but missed out again. However I had opened up a big chunk of English land for colonization and my settlers were poised to take advantage. Now it was time to see what I could get for a peace treaty. England wouldn't part with a tech; they offered me either gold or cities but not both:

The intriguing thing is that I had no idea where those cities were. They certainly weren't on my map so they were probably on an island off the English coast. That made sense as they were seafaring and had the Great Lighthouse. But was it a useless barren island that I would find hard to defend, or did it contain some valuable resources (iron even)? On the other hand I really needed that cash. Decisions, decisions, I finally opted for this:

It was a bad choice. Not one island but two and not just off the English coast as I'd expected. Instead they were right up in the far north by Russia and shared one island with a Russian town. No resources, and almost impossible to defend in any war, in fact I can't even see a way to get ships there. Bugger, I really could have used that gold.

However I still had some trading to do. Spain swapped me Chivalry for Theology and Babylon gave me Invention for Theology plus 13 gpt. Both China and Babylon had spare iron (so where had England got hers?) but wouldn't trade it, so I couldn't build knights. Meanwhile on the other side of the world the Endeavour was still circumnavigating the second continent having just reached the Celtic capital of Entremont. There was still one civ left to find. Then Leonardo's Workshop was completed by the Chinese city of Chengdu; which is right next to my border. Not that I am likely to be taking a Chinese city anytime soon but at least it is nice to know that valuable wonder is handy to me.

 

[dalgo]

I was researching Printing Press in order to be able to trade contacts. That would put me in a powerful position because of my exploration; I was the only one with contacts on another continent. Unfortunately China beat me to that advance by three turns. If they demanded a contact I would have no choice but to cave in (they already had cavalry) and lose all the advantages that the Endeavour had brought me. Here’'s hoping...

With one turn to go Printing Press had been traded among my local civs but it wasn’t known on the second continent so I would have something to trade. I had also met Germany so that made the full set. I could now cash in on the work that my plucky curragh had done, and I traded between turns. The Maya were the obvious first target as they had the most cash. I offered them Printing Press and 5 contacts and they gave me Gunpowder, 625 gold and 82 gpt. Then I received Education from the Celts for PP and 5 contacts. Babylon was my source of iron but they made a tough deal and I had to give them 2 techs, 4 contacts and 50 gpt. Next China gave me 33 gold and 18 gpt for 4 contacts and the Vikings gave me Ivory for PP.

Whew! So my net gain was 2 techs, iron, ivory, 658 gold and 50 gpt. Five civs are still ahead of me in tech (Maya, China, Russia, Babylon and surprisingly England) but I am level or ahead of the rest. Gunpowder added saltpetre to the map and I didn'’t have any, but as I already knew England had a source. So that would be the main target of my next war against them. I used my cash surplus to upgrade seven horsemen to knights (at 120 gold each - ouch!). I had originally planned to turn off research and build up enough cash to upgrade the rest but I found out no one had Music Theory yet and with my extra gpt I could get it in 8 turns.

Now that I’ had met all civs it was worth looking at the world rankings table to see where my Incas were placed: They were 7th,– not bad considering this is Deity level. As I'’d expected the Maya were top.

England and Scandinavia finally made peace after a long war. There didn’t seem to be much point to it (no towns were captured) apart from killing a lot of units on both sides which was good for me of course. But we weren’'t without wars for long, Babylon declared on China. That wi’ll draw Chinese troops away from my border and with a bit of luck other civs will get involved too.

Then I was a single turn away from Music Theory, and no one else had learned it. That meant I would have a global monopoly. It was a wonder tech too so should be worth a lot in trade. I hit enter, Music Theory came in and I chose the ‘big picture’ screen and started trading. The Maya had the most cash again (where were they getting it all from?) so I gave them first shot and they offered me 2365 gold for Music Theory. That would allow me to upgrade the rest of my horses so I accepted. However after that it was no longer a monopoly so the price went down. China gave me dyes, 157 gold and 26 gpt, Spain 15 gold and 36 gpt and Russia 11 gold and 27 gpt. So I received no techs this time. However with that amount of cash and gpt I was able to upgrade another 14 horsemen to knights and set research to 90%, Chemistry in just 5 turns. I also bought the final three embassies.

 

[dalgo]

I was drawing up my plans for an attack on England when I got a nasty shock; they already had cavalry. Cavalry move 3 so would be able to hit any of my border towns, and they have attack 6 whereas my best defender (pikeman) only has a defence of 3. I am still three techs away from my own cavalry; and I don't have any saltpetre, so I'll have to start the war with what I've got. At least I will be able to cut both their horses and saltpetre as soon as the war starts.

In 600 AD I declared war on England again.

England's remaining towns were mainly on the coast whereas I controlled the interior. My plan was to attack their west coast first because that was where their resources were, so I had set up a strong assault force between Warwick and Canterbury. My first action however was to send a Chasqui scout across the border to pillage their only horses (it was on a hill which was why I used the Chasqui). Then I switched to my main attack.

I had intended to take Canterbury first (for the salt) but when I realised both cities were only defended by regulars I decided to split my forces with 5 trebs, 3 medieval infantry and 4 knights in each group. The first group went north to attack Warwick while the second took out a couple of blocking units and went west. Before the end of turn I looked for allies. I was able to sign up China and Scandinavia for gold and gpt although it meant reducing my research. I didn't really want those two to do any fighting though; I just couldn't afford the risk of a war on two fronts. I was hoping the bulk of China's troops were still away fighting Babylon. Four English cavalry attacked my border towns between turns and three died against my pikemen. My sole loss was a pike in the only town in the north without a wall (it completed next turn). Unfortunately that was enough to give me war weariness. After only two turns of war! I had been at peace for more than 20 turns so how did that happen?

Then my trebs went 3 for 5 against Warwick which was defended by 3 muskets and a knight, and I lost a knight taking it. They only took 2 hit points off the Canterbury defenders but that was enough as it was not as well defended and I took the town without loss. That gave me control of England's saltpetre and I switched some builds to muskets. I was hoping the removal of both horses and salt would prevent the English from building cavalry although I realised they might still be able to trade for those resources overseas (they already knew Navigation).

I was pleased to hear of a war starting on the other continent, and between two of the leading civs too (Maya and the Celts). England asked for peace early and I was able to check their resources; no horses or saltpetre. That's why I hadn't seen any more cavalry. Then during an assault on an English city my elite horseman had a win and produced my first leader. I immediately formed a knight army and started a pre-build for the Military Academy. I captured that city but in my very next elite attack; by a medieval infantry this time, I got a 2nd leader. I built another army but this time I'll save it for cavalry. This war was going far better than I expected.

After capturing and resettling the English towns in the west I transferred my forces to the east. These towns I wanted to keep. However China had made peace with Babylon and their cavalry were arriving in force. I just got my attack in first, and one of my elite knights acquired my 3rd leader. Wow, this is amazing. I sent him back to Cuzco to wait for cavalry. I captured two English towns that turn and set up a screen of workers to try and slow down the Chinese. Only Liverpool and London to go on the mainland, the English also had a town on an offshore island and I was sending my galleys to take that as well. Just to hammer home how far I was behind in tech, I received the message that the Maya were building Universal Suffrage. That is an Industrial Age wonder and meant that they knew at least three IA techs while I was five techs away from entering that age.

When I took Liverpool I captured my first wonder of the game:

It was actually still useful for me. It expires with Magnetism and I was the only player that hadn't researched it yet apart from the backward Mongols. It meant my exploring curragh could use sea tiles and was now safe from barb galleys. Then the final turn of the English war arrived, at least I hoped so. My army and knights were poised to take London and I had more knights in place to attack the island town of Carlisle. However an English caravel had just left that town so I was hoping it didn't contain a settler. I attacked Carlisle first, I had three knights available but only two were required. Then on to London which was well defended. I lost two knights and others retreated leaving my army to strike the final blow; and the English were gone from the game. My MA with China and the Vikings still had 7 turns to run and I thought that might have hurt my reputation but apparently not as they were still willing to accept my gpt in trades.

 

[dalgo]

Taking London had given me three ivory resources, one for me and two to trade for gold and territory maps (no one would give me their world map). I didn't want anyone to demand those resources from me as I hoped to use them as bribes in the future. Meanwhile I upgraded a few knights to cavalry and filled my two empty armies. The Heroic Epic had finished and I was building the Pentagon and the Military Academy. Wars were increasing around the world with the Hittites and the Celts now fighting the Maya who had signed several other civs up against one or other of them, plus making a pact with China. I'm hoping this may bring China into the conflict.

Now that I am at peace and able to build up my stock of cavalry I realize I missed the opportunity to upgrade my trebuchets to cannon. Cavalry don't require iron but cannons do. I was so busy building knights while I had iron that I only built 4 cannon myself. I can't afford to trade for iron so for my next war (which will be against China) I will be using trebs against riflemen. I completed the Pentagon and added an extra cavalry to each of my armies. The Academy had also completed and I was building another army. I found out that Germany was short of horses so I traded them for their World Map, and this is it:

On the map my Incas look as though they are still competitive, but that ignores the fact that I am way behind in tech. I somehow need to defeat China and take their resources, but as soon as war starts their cavalry will overflow my borders. What I have been hoping is that they would send them away to fight elsewhere on the continent. There are plenty of wars going on but they mostly involve the second continent; it is a real dog fight over there with the Celts, Germany and the Hittites fighting the Maya, Spain and the Mongols.

A Mayan galleon dropped off a cavalry beside Bristol. That's one of the island towns in the far north that I got from the English and it is undefended. Just visiting? Probably not, so I gave the town to Russia. In 960 AD I entered the Industrial Age and I decided that was quite an accomplishment by itself for my first ever Deity game, even if it didn't last much longer. So I started a war with China.

First though I signed a Mutual Protection Pact (MPP) with the Maya. They were so keen on the idea that they gave my 2600 gold to go with it! I knew that would get me involved in all their wars, but they also had a pact with China so they were going to join this war on one side or the other, and as they were the most powerful civ in the game I'd rather they were on my side. Then I asked a Chinese cavalry to leave or declare war, and they chose the latter. I killed that cav then went looking for allies. My spare ivory was enough to bring in Russia and Spain, I had enough gold for Babylon, the Mongols joined in for a tech and I found that I had even out-researched the Vikings so I had a tech to offer them as well. Maya didn't want to know but hopefully they will have no choice. Finally I parked a worker on my border as bait, and hit End Turn.

My pact with the Maya immediately forced me into wars with Germany and the Hittites and then the Maya declared war on my allies Babylon and Scandinavia. That was entirely unexpected. Maybe that's why they were so keen on the deal I'd offered them? Once those two make any attack on Mayan territory, even a frigate firing on a town, I will have to declare war on them.

But meanwhile it was China's turn - and all they sent against me was a single medieval infantry that captured the worker I had left out as bait. Maybe they sent their cavalry the other way? However that one attack was all that was needed to bring my MPP into play.

Of course that cancelled the pact between China and the Maya so I was then free to attack the lone Chinese city to the south of my territory and my cavalry army captured it easily. That was enough for now; I'll play a waiting game for a few turns. I can expect my enemies to land troops from the sea so I don't want to commit my own troops to an invasion just yet. Thanks to all that Mayan gold I am researching Steam Power at 90% so I can build railroads (assuming I have coal). In hindsight I realized why Maya had declared war on my two allies. It was just that they had their turns first while the Maya/China pact was still in place so when they attacked China (as I'd asked them to) the Maya automatically declared war on them. It was only when China attacked me that their pact was cancelled. I should have expected that and waited a turn before signing up Babylon and the Vikings against China.

China started sending more troops into my territory but my bombardment units were away from home attacking the southern Chinese border city that was guarded by three riflemen. I had a stack of 30 trebs and cannons and it took the entire stack to redline the defenders (just 7 hits out of 30 shots). I captured the city and razed it allowing my borders to expand. Next turn China landed 8 cavalry beside one of my cities but fortunately it was close by my bombard stack so I was able to use that to reduce hit points before destroying the cavalry. However it did tie up those units because I was reluctant to move them away from a known landing spot. Steam Power came in and I had no coal, rather predicable I suppose. I had my workers all lined up ready to build railroads but they had to go on the dole. China did have coal of course but it is well inside their territory; and I had war weariness already! Bloody hell this has been a tough game to play. I had a look at the trading screen to see if anyone had spare coal, but no luck there.

 

[dalgo]

A lapse in concentration left some units exposed and Chinese cavalry killed three workers and capture my only five cannons. Fortunately I was able to re-capture the cannons next turn. I can defend my cities and whittle away the attackers OK as I now have 4 armies available, but it is very difficult to find spare units to threaten the Chinese cities. An elite Chinese cavalry killed one of my defenders and produced a Chinese leader (Sun Tzu) but I was able to eliminate him next turn. I'’ve belatedly realised that coal alone wouldn’t have been enough for me to build railroads, they need iron as well. My excuse for not realising this is that I’'ve never before reached the Industrial Age without iron! In fact it would have been far better to research Nationalism instead of Steam Power so I could build riflemen. At present Chinese cavalry are finding it too easy to kill my muskets, which results in higher war weariness. I managed to put together an assault force to try and capture the Chinese city of Canton. It looked like a strong force, but I would be matching medieval infantry against fortified veteran riflemen, not really an even contest.

My 14 bombardment units could only take 3 hit points off the defenders, leaving an untouched rifleman on top, so there were at least four of them. My army lost half its hit points accounting for that and I had to bring in my only other healthy army to kill the next defender. I then lost 6 medieval infantry and 2 cavalry before finally capturing Canton – and Smith’s Trading Company. That would have been a very beneficial wonder for me but there was no way I could hold onto that city so I sold the city buildings (for 145 gold) and razed Canton. My borders expanded to fill a gap in my territory which slowed the advance of enemy cavalry.

Then a bit of good news for a change, my elite cavalry were cleaning up the last of the enemy cavalry on my land when I got this message.

My new leader was Atahualpa and I used him to form my 5th army. Meanwhile, far far away, my plucky curragh had finally finished circumnavigating the second continent. With no more work for it to do I regretfully disbanded it. When Germany offered me cash for peace I took it, not realising that would cancel my MPP with China and trash my reputation. Bugger

War weariness became so bad I had to turn off research completely and raise the lux slider to 50%. I was at peace with everyone but China and I just had time for one more attack. I used my entire stack of bombardment units and red-lined all the defenders before capturing Chengdu – and another wonder. This time it was Leonardo'’s Workshop and that was too valuable to even consider razing the city. Instead I made peace with China and moved all available troops into Chengdu. That quelled the resistance completely and I could start to starve the city down. It was still only an outside chance that I could hold on to it but it was worth a try. I had a look round to see if anyone would sell me iron so I could upgrade my trebuchets. Yes Russia would, but she wanted 475 gold and 178 gpt and I couldn’t afford it. I did upgrade a few muskets to riflemen.

 

[dalgo]

One of the best ways to catch up in technology is to trade, but for that you need something with which to trade. I'd just learnt Nationalism but no one had researched Ironclads yet and with my research now back up to 60% I could do that in 10 turns. If I got there first I might be able to trade that for iron. Meanwhile I switched from military builds to infrastructure - cathedrals and universities for my core cities. I successfully starved Chengdu down to one without it flipping, maybe I could hold onto Leonardo's. Then the Maya landed an infantry and a cavalry in my territory. I moved some units to protect the nearby cities but as expected the Maya declared war and attacked. I removed that threat, although the infantry red-lined my army, but it was going to be a nuisance without rails because I would have to keep several armies on patrol to protect against further landings. I could also expect the Maya to sign MA's against me. At least the war happiness allowed me to set the lux slider to zero.

I was the first to research Ironclads! Of course I couldn't build them as I had neither iron nor coal, but I had a monopoly tech to trade. Now I just had to figure out how to benefit from it. I had a quick look round to see what was on offer and the only civ with spare iron was China and they had a trade embargo against me. So I would try for a tech. Industrialisation was available but to build factories you need iron. I decided to make Electricity my priority because that meant I could research Replaceable Parts next allowing me to build infantry and artillery, neither of which required iron. Of course infantry need rubber but surely my luck is due to change.

I started the trading session with the Vikings. They were down to just 8 cities so I gave them Nationalism for Economics, Navigation, 74 gold, 64 gpt, and their World Map. The Mongols were still in the Middle Ages so I swapped them the Theory of Gravity for 130 gold, 12 gpt and another World Map. Russia however was my main trading partner and they traded Electricity, 318 gold and 30 gpt for my Ironclads. I finished with Germany and got 347 gold, 80 gpt and gems for Ironclads. That enabled me to set research to 100%. Replaceable Parts is due in 8 turns.

The Maya made a few more landings but I had no trouble wiping them out and they didn't sign anyone else up against me. I think everyone else was too busy with wars of their own. Then Replaceable Parts came in; and I had rubber! In fact I had two rubber resources. I was interested to see if China had any, and they did, but only one. It was close to my border and I would be able to cut it off as soon as war started again. My next tech would be Industrialization but first I wanted to see if I could trade for it and sure enough the Hittites gave it to me for Electricity. Next I traded my spare rubber plus 85 gpt to Germany for Medicine, although I had to renegotiate peace to enable me to use my gpt in the trade because my reputation is shot. Then I turned research off to accumulate enough cash for upgrades. Trebuchets to artillery only cost 75 gold each with the Leonardo discount but I had a lot of them and I wanted to upgrade some rifles too.

I made peace with the Maya so I could bring home the armies I had guarding their landing sites. They were still fighting other civs, including China, and I was glad to see the Chinese were at war with Russia too so hopefully most of their troops would be away from home when I was ready to fight them again. I upgraded my trebs and cannons over the next few turns, giving me 45 artillery, and then moved my troops into position for a new war. My objectives are to cut the Chinese supply of rubber (so they can't build infantry) and then capture their coal and iron.

I declared war on China, took my first target city and pillaged the rubber, then the Chinese moved a few troops into my territory; and I had war weariness. After just a single turn of the war, talk about annoying. I captured another couple of Chinese cities but in spite of the number of wars they were fighting they still managed to find enough troops to be a nuisance. In one busy turn I removed 21 enemy cavalry and infantry from my territory and lost an army in the process but gained two new leaders for a net increase in armies.

 

[Arexander]

lurker's comment: IIRC, the embassy costs depend on the distance to the target capital.

 

[jiikoo]

This game is getting interesting phase.

 

[dalgo]

The Chinese land was already fully railroaded so as I razed and replaced their cities I had the benefit of fast movement across my front lines and could move my artillery to where they were most effective. War weariness increased but I was making steady progress. I razed Beijing and captured 13 workers, that's got to hurt! Then in 1355 AD I had my own supply of iron for the very first time in the game. That meant I could now build factories. Soon after that I had coal as well and I laid 20 tiles of railroad tracks in the first turn. This freed up two armies that had been guarding against Chinese landings (that never eventuated). Meanwhile, in a far off land, both the Mongols and Spain had exited the game.

I demolished China’s core and was capturing their cities faster than I could replace them. I had run out of settlers because my production cities were all building factories. I had also overrun China’s last horse resource so they had no more cavalry although they could still produce infantry (I don’t know who they were getting their rubber from). War weariness had stabilised and I had gained additional luxuries so I could keep research high and when I discovered Refining there was plenty of oil available. When China was down to their last three cities the other civs started to fight over the scraps. There were Viking berserkers and Babylonian riflemen mixed in with Russian settlers, and some Celtic cavalry had come from no-where to capture a Chinese town. I quickly accounted for those last three cities and the once mighty Chinese were no more.

That left a lot of empty land and I was scrambling to build enough settlers to fill it. Meanwhile though I set up a barrier of workers to try and prevent Russians and Babylonians from moving in from the north. I couldn’t do much to prevent the Vikings from building there but they would be my next target anyway. When I researched Combustion I stopped to have a look at my situation. With the new territory I had settled I now had the largest land area in the game. However technology was the problem. The top three civs were the Maya, Germany and Russia. They were fighting between themselves but that hadn’t slowed their tech progress and all three had Flight. My cavalry armies gave me a huge combat advantage up until the advent of bombers and tanks, and while I might just be able to fight Russia there was little chance of crossing the ocean in sufficient force to take on Germany or the Maya. That meant Domination or Conquest victories were unlikely. The Maya had the largest population and their cities were huge, several with a population of 30 +. They were so far ahead in tech they could well be in the Modern Age already so a Space Ship victory also seems very unlikely. Still I’'ll keep playing - the Vikings are next.

 

[jiikoo]

Help Maya opponents as much as you can! + picture from Viking front?

 

[dalgo]

Help Maya opponents as much as you can! + picture from Viking front?

 

[dalgo]

I left a gap in my barrier to encourage the Vikings to send troops through my territory (they were still at war with the Babylonians) and they obliged, and then they declared war when I asked them to leave. Thank goodness for AI stupidity no war weariness this time. The Vikings had seven continental cities and I took them out in two turns (I now had 12 cavalry armies). That left them with one island town and it would be a fair while before I could get any ships there. It was far enough away that I felt it safe to retain the captured Viking cities rather than raze them, so I started starving them down. The next turn I was told the Maya were building the United Nations! So they already had at least one Modern Times tech while I still had five techs to research to reach that age.

The Celts had a single town on my continent and I wanted it gone so I could straighten my front line for a future war with Russia. I asked a passing Celtic rifleman to go home, they declared war and I removed the town. This gave me a very defensible three-town front line. I don’'t want a long war against the Celts so I’ will take the first peace offer I can get. However I'’ll stay at war with the Vikings for a while, if I can take their island town it will give me a stepping stone to the second continent. Meanwhile with no current threat on my own continent I set to work to make my cities as efficient as possible and built Wall Street and the Intelligence Agency.

This is the world map; the Hittites are down to three towns and the Vikings just one. Babylon has been eaten away by Russia during past wars, and Germany is losing its war with the Maya.

Then unexpectedly the Germans cancelled our trade pact and declared war on me! Because they were in trouble in their war with the Maya I had recently traded them rubber, iron and horses to help them out, and had taken gems in the trade. When I checked the map I could see that the Maya had overrun their source of gems so I guess that had automatically cancelled our agreement. I don’t think they will have much left to send against me though. The Maya were also at war with Russia and they signed an MA with Babylon then made peace with Russia the very next turn leaving poor Babylon to carry the can. I don’t think that was a very good deal!

I captured a Celtic town on the island where the Vikings are hiding and that persuaded the Celts to make peace. I then went on to take the last Viking town and they were out of the game. That island could be a strategic staging post if ever I had the chance to invade the second continent. It had two more Celtic towns and one Russian town on it so I left troops there for when they might be needed.

I was still at war with the Germans though but they wouldn’t talk. As soon as I researched Flight I started building airports in all my core cities. Atomic Theory was next but I managed to swap it with the Hittites for Combustion plus 90 gpt. Electronics in 8 turns and I can build hydro plants for my factories. As expected Babylon were wiped out by the Russians leaving just two civs on my continent. My current plan to win this game is as follows: Defeat Russia and the Celts and gain enough territory to win by Domination before the Maya can build their space ship. Of course that assumes I can beat Russia quickly and I'’m not even sure I can beat them at all.

 

[MTB4884]

I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of the story. Go Incas!