Round 7: 970 AD to 1100 AD [14 Turns] - The Fall of Japan, Part I
WAR!
War starts: turn 243, 980 AD. I'm hoping cavalry will wrap this one up quickly. And as usual, I can capture a city on the first turn of the war. I always like to do that.
With over 92% odds on the first defender, I take the city laughably.
The dog-pile of Tokugawa has a downside. It means that other civilizations may take him as a vassal soon. Therefore, I opted to remove that threat. This is why being the technology leader is so helpful. Oh, I'm not worried about giving Boudica Rifling, since the Rifling technology is cheaper than having to attack both Boudica and Tokugawa later.
With the world map from Boudica, I now have a nice stopping point at 1000 AD [turn 245]. Here's the fully updated map. Notice that Sitting Bull's land is crap, as usual. I could never understand why he always gets hit with the bad land.
The demographics are not bad for deity at this time. Of course, by the end of the war, I'll aim to be first in the important categories (GNP, MFG, Food) and respectable in military.
Top 5 Cities & Wonders. It's interesting to note that no civilization has more than one city listed here.
I strike a technology trade with Bismarck. The key technology here was
Corporation, which is basically like a second Currency technology since it gives a free trade route to every city. Perfect!
This allows me to research
Steel next, although in retrospect I probably could have delayed that technology as the war was done with horses only.
My horses arrived at Kyoto on turn 248. As incredible as it may seem, I take the city with no losses. Yes, not a single unit died. Of course, I have to thank my allies for destroying perhaps 3-5 Tokugawa units a turn.
My Great General (the first of the game for me) caught up to the horses and is now attaching himself to one. I plan on getting a Medic III unit as I want to be able to heal rapidly.
Meanwhile, at Home, I pop a source of silver. Incredible! This game was actually pretty odd in terms of resources popping from mines, as I got two silver, one copper, one iron, and at least a few other metals.
While my forces were healing at Kyoto (remember, units that move in a turn can't heal that turn) I sent some healthy cavalries with Bismarck's small stack to Osaka. I intentionally asked Bismarck to "attack Osaka" so that I could "scout" the city without any Tokugawa interference. I'll have to check the game again to see who comes in turn order first - Bismarck or Tokugawa.
A few turns later, I move a moderate stack of cavalry on the hill to see what's in Tokyo. Not much, it seems. It looks like Tokugawa's running out of fight soon. Oh well - blame the AP!
I got the "every-50" turn report. This is why I decided to bribe Boudica out of the war. She's the most powerful civ on the planet, so Tokugawa would likely cave into her first. (The vassal mechanics are a bit more complicated that that, though, but the general rule is that civs vassal to the people who cause the most damage to them.)
Well, here's Tokyo. I captured this city easily, again. I get a free courthouse, too. That's one of the nice things about war - you can capture espionage buildings that really help you later on when the AI's are putting 100+ on you ever turn.
I had a brief chuckle when I realized that this was probably the first offensive attack Tokugawa ever tried to do to me.
Here's the domestic advisor, so you can see that virtually all cities are on cavalry right now. My population is low now because of the whip. It's tough that cavalries can't be drafted, since I'd be able to keep getting one from my Globe Theatre city ever turn then.
I capture Tokugawa's second capital, Osaka. The poor guy has to deal with the fact that I've gotten his first capital and am using it as a route to his second! And again, you can see that I cleverly asked Bismarck to attack the city before me, thus wounding the units. If Bismarck had a larger stack by the city, I would have no choice but to bribe him to peace or take the city before he could.
With Japanese culture rapidly diminishing, I take advantage of the time to pounce on some undefended longbows. I used my Great General to attack as I want him to get another experience point for his next promotion. (I also frequently have Great Generals attack the last unit defending a city for easy experience points.)
Yet another city to fall - Kagoshima.
Several things happened this turn. You can see that Hannibal made peace with Tokugawa. I'm pleased with that, although it means that Hannibal will likely resume teching at a high speed. I don't think Hannibal ever caused Tokugawa damage to his military so there was little risk of Tokugawa capitulating to Hannibal.
And you can see that Tokugawa finally killed one of my units by one of his own attacks for the first time this game. A work boat.
After
Steel, I researched
Scientific Method. It was high time that I got the Biology technology, and Scientific Method is its prerequisite.
Pericles takes advantage of being first to Divine Right by building Versailles quite close to his capital, which lessens its usefulness.
After the capture of Satsuma, I used the opportunity to nab a few more workers. I was able to capture Satsuma by moving a lot of cavalry 2 spaces away on turn 254, then attacking on turn 255. The quickness of Cavalry is just overwhelming. Recall that the war started on turn 243.
It seemed like I was on a roll. But then, the game threw a curveball at me....
TO BE CONTINUED ... in ROUND EIGHT!
(note, I will get some saves up soon, but I'm trying to search through my save directory for a good one.)